Alcohol-related liver disease

Alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease (CLD). It is caused by chronic and excessive alcohol intake. ARLD begins with the accumulation of fat in liver cells (alcoholic fatty liver disease) and can advance to liver inflammation (alcoholic hepatitis) and, in severe cases, cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular cancer (O'Shea RS et al. (2010)). Individuals who consume alcohol heavily over prolonged periods are at the highest risk of developing ARLD, with genetic and environmental factors contributing to the severity of the disease (Gao B et al. (2011)). The diagnosis of ARLD is primarily based on a combination of clinical history (notably a history of alcohol consumption) and laboratory tests (Stickel F et al. (2017)). Here, a patient's history of alcohol intake can serve as an indicator to suspect ARLD and perform the necessary tests (Sharma P et al. (2020)). However, obtaining such history is not always straightforward and the disease itself tends to be asymptomatic in its earlier stages, making it difficult to obtain a prompt diagnosis. The severity of the disease can be assessed using imaging techniques. A liver biopsy may be performed in unclear cases or to assess the extent of liver damage, but due to its invasive nature and associated risks, it is typically reserved for more severe or ambiguous presentations. In the management of ARLD, cessation of alcohol consumption is crucial to prevent further liver damage and improve survival outcomes. As with other CLDs, timely and adequate disease management can reverse liver damage, while the failure to do so can result into cirrhosis, at which time the damage is often irreversible. At this point, medications like corticosteroids can increase short-term survival (Mathurin P et al. (2011)). However, liver transplantation might offer the only long-term solution.

Differential Abundance Analysis Results

This section presents the results of the differential protein abundance analysis, visualized through a volcano plot and summarized in the accompanying table for all three comparisons: 1) disease vs. healthy samples, 2) disease vs. diseases from the same class, and 3) disease vs. all other diseases.