{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T09:03:34Z","timestamp":1785402214899,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]],"date-time":"2026-05-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779840000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, Montenegro","award":["01-082\/22-1681\/3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01-082\/22-1681\/3"]}]},{"name":"Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia","award":["J3-4527"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["J3-4527"]}]},{"name":"Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia","award":["BI-ME\/23-24-030"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BI-ME\/23-24-030"]}]},{"award":["J3-4527"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["J3-4527"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/059bp8k51","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["BI-ME\/23-24-030"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BI-ME\/23-24-030"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/059bp8k51","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"CEEPUS network SI-0611","award":["CPNR: M-SI-0611-2324-177307"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CPNR: M-SI-0611-2324-177307"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is increasingly recognized during adolescence and exhibits sex-specific characteristics. Its prevalence in late adolescent females is around 10% in the general population and exceeds 30% in obesity. Genetic variants in PNPLA3, MBOAT7, and MARC1 modulate hepatic fat accumulation and liver injury in adults, but evidence in adolescent females remains limited. This study examined MASLD-related variants (PNPLA3 rs738409, MBOAT7 rs641738, MARC1 rs2642438) in relation to metabolic and immune-inflammation indices in a late-adolescent female cohort. A cross-sectional analysis was performed in a prospectively assembled female cohort (n = 150; age 16\u201319 years). Ultrasound-defined MASLD prevalence was 16.7%. Although genotype-wise differences did not reach statistical significance, MASLD prevalence was directionally higher among PNPLA3 G- and MBOAT7 T-allele carriers, while a non-uniform, directionally favorable pattern was observed for the MARC1 A allele. Nominal, unadjusted differences were observed for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) across MBOAT7 genotypes. Cumulative risk-allele burden analyses identified nominal trends for triglycerides (K-W p = 0.05; J-T p = 0.014) and triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index (K-W p = 0.034; J-T p = 0.008), which were not retained after adjustment for age and body mass index. Overall, these findings indicate modest, exploratory genotype-related patterns in metabolic and hematological immune-inflammation indices within a relatively healthy, late-adolescent female population. TyG and SII exhibited substantial inter-individual variability but did not demonstrate independent predictive value. Larger, longitudinal studies with advanced imaging are required to clarify the role of genetic variation and simple hematological metabolic-inflammation indices in early MASLD risk assessment in adolescent females.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27114837","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]],"date-time":"2026-05-27T14:36:56Z","timestamp":1779892616000},"page":"4837","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Association of Genetic Variants in PNPLA3, MBOAT7, and MARC1 with Metabolic and Hematological Immune-Inflammation Indices in Adolescent Females with and Without MASLD: A Multilevel Risk-Allele Burden Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-9354-6376","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Simona","family":"Jurkovic Mlakar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7870-0996","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aleksandra","family":"Klisic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Montenegro, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro"},{"name":"Center for Laboratory Diagnostics, Primary Health Care Centre, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Janja","family":"Marc","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7158-8241","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Barbara","family":"Ostanek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1542","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhep.2023.06.003","article-title":"A multisociety Delphi consensus statement on new fatty liver disease nomenclature","volume":"79","author":"Rinella","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. 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