Table 2.

Correlation analysis between serum miRNAs and metabolic markers among the groups.

Variables	Non-NAFLD without IR (n=7)					Non-NAFLD with IR (n=8)					NAFLD (n=16)
	miR-21	miR-22	miR-150	miR-155	miR-27a	miR-21	miR-22	miR-150	miR-155	miR-27a	miR-21	miR-22	miR-150	miR-155	miR-27a
	-5p	-3p	-5p	-5p	-3p	-5p	-3p	-5p	-5p	-3p	-5p	-3p	-5p	-5p	-3p
	r	r	r	r	r	r	r	r	r	r	r	r	r	r	r
Insulin (µIU/mL)	0.26	0.36	0.53	-0.46	0.36	-0.19	-0.10	-0.39	0.82*	-0.78*	-0.34	-0.14	0.23	0.73**	-0.74*
FGF21 (pg/mL)	-0.43	-0.23	-0.22	0.31	-0.13	-0.54	-0.74*	-0.54	0.60	0.48	-0.73**	-0.89**	0.18	0.43	0.52
Adiponectin (ng/mL)	0.39	0.19	-0.38	0.71	-0.09	-0.53	-0.79*	0.51	-0.86**	0.32	-0.71*	-0.75*	-0.15	-0.82**	0.22
IHTG (%)	0.21	0.34	0.64	0.34	-0.32	0.42	0.34	-0.35	-0.01	-0.56	0.75**	0.78**	0.62**	0.64*	-0.68*
Triglyceride (mg/dL)	0.41	0.46	0.12	0.21	-0.86**	0.54	0.34	-0.36	0.28	-0.78*	0.74*	0.85*	0.64*	0.69**	-0.72*
Total Chol (mg/dL)	0.52	0.22	0.82*	-0.66	0.21	0.38	0.18	0.80*	-0.51	-0.26	-0.51	-0.13	-0.05	0.54*	-0.14
HDL-Chol (mg/dL)	0.28	0.48	0.63	-0.87**	0.40	0.15	0.40	0.36	-0.31	0.54	-0.46	-0.26	0.50	-0.44	0.36
LDL-Chol (mg/dL)	0.14	0.34	0.58	-0.45	0.64	0.32	0.20	0.81**	-0.52	-0.36	0.68*	0.72*	-0.29	0.38	0.46
ALT (IU/L)	0.48	0.48	0.37	-0.08	-0.64*	0.42	0.46	0.04	-0.41	-0.46	0.35	0.35	-0.35	0.68**	-0.35
AST (IU/L)	-0.23	-0.53	0.07	-0.46	-0.53	0.32	0.47	-0.08	-0.39	-0.03	0.46	0.26	-0.26	0.64**	0.25

ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; FGF, fibroblast growth factor; IHTG, intrahepatic triglyceride; IR, insulin resistance; NAFLD, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. miRNA levels were transformed into a log scale (-log2). r represents correlation coefficient, shown in bold italic when the p-value is less than 0.05. *represents p < 0.05; **represents p < 0.01.