Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease - current status and future directions

Pathological fibrosis of the liver is a landmark feature in chronic liver diseases, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Diagnosis and assessment of progress or treatment efficacy today requires biopsy of the liver, which is a challenge in, e.g., longitudinal interventional studies. Molecular imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) have the potential to enable minimally invasive assessment of liver fibrosis. This review will summarize and discuss the current status of the development of innovative imaging markers for processes relevant for fibrogenesis in liver, e.g., certain immune cells, activated fibroblasts, and collagen depositions.

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Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: An Update on the Diagnosis

Gene Expression ◽

10.3727/105221619x15553433838609 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 187-198 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jia-Zhen Zhang ◽

Jing-Jing Cai ◽

Yao Yu ◽

Zhi-Gang She ◽

Hongliang Li

Keyword(s):

Liver Disease ◽

Liver Biopsy ◽

Fatty Liver ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Current Status ◽

Imaging Biomarkers ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Diagnostic Approaches

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common liver disease and a major cause of related complications such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). NAFLD progresses through the stages of simple steatosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, cirrhosis, and HCC. However, NAFLD usually cannot be diagnosed in a timely manner, which is largely attributed to the asymptomatic features of NAFLD patients and the lack of an effective and accurate noninvasive screening approach. Although liver biopsy has been recognized as a gold standard for diagnosing NAFLD, this approach is not suitable for screening and monitoring NAFLD because of its high cost and invasiveness. Several noninvasive screening and diagnostic systemic assessments have been developed in recent years for NAFLD evaluation. Here we summarize the current status and methods for NAFLD diagnosis, including both noninvasive (imaging, biomarkers) and invasive (liver biopsy) assessments. We further discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these developed diagnostic approaches for NAFLD.

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Review: Current status of therapy in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology ◽

10.1177/1756283x08100327 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 29-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Scott McNear ◽

Stephen A. Harrison

Keyword(s):

Liver Disease ◽

Fatty Liver ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Current Status ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver ◽

Review Current

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Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and the gut microbiome: Are bacteria responsible for fatty liver?

Experimental Biology and Medicine ◽

10.1177/1535370219836739 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 244 (6) ◽

pp. 408-418 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Tien S Dong ◽

Jonathan P Jacobs

Keyword(s):

Liver Disease ◽

Fatty Liver ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Gut Microbiome ◽

Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Metabolic Disorders ◽

Microbial Composition ◽

Future Directions ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver

Over the last several years, a growing body of literature has linked the gut microbiome to human health and diseases such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This paper will review the current literature investigating the influence of diets associated with metabolic disorders on the microbiome and how those changes promote susceptibility to metabolic disorders. It will then focus in-depth on the role of the gut microbiome in NAFLD. The review will highlight associations of microbial composition and function with progression of NAFLD in patients and discuss potential mechanisms that link the gut microbiome to NAFLD. Finally, it will address limitations of existing studies along with future directions for microbiome research in NAFLD, including potential microbe-related treatments. Impact statement This invited minireview for the upcoming thematic issue on the microbiome addresses the role of the microbiome in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The incidence of NAFLD has increased greatly in recent years in parallel with the rise in obesity and is now believed to have a population prevalence of 20–40%. It is anticipated to soon become the primary cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality, and unfortunately, there are few treatment options. Therefore, there is a critical need for improved understanding of NAFLD pathophysiology to provide new avenues for therapeutic intervention. In this paper, we have reviewed evidence from human and animal model studies that have associated microbiome composition and microbial metabolites with development and progression of NAFLD. We have also discussed proposed mechanisms by which the microbiome could contribute to NAFLD pathogenesis and addressed future directions for this field.

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AISF position paper on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): Updates and future directions

Digestive and Liver Disease ◽

10.1016/j.dld.2017.01.147 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 49 (5) ◽

pp. 471-483 ◽

Cited By ~ 138

Author(s):

Amedeo Lonardo ◽

Fabio Nascimbeni ◽

Giovanni Targher ◽

Mauro Bernardi ◽

Ferruccio Bonino ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Liver Disease ◽

Fatty Liver ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Position Paper ◽

Future Directions ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver

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Current Status in Testing for Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)

Cells ◽

10.3390/cells8080845 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (8) ◽

pp. 845 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Hannah Drescher ◽

Sabine Weiskirchen ◽

Ralf Weiskirchen

Keyword(s):

Liver Disease ◽

Fatty Liver ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis ◽

Fatty Liver Disease ◽

Sampling Error ◽

Imaging Techniques ◽

Current Status ◽

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver ◽

Public Health Burden

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in Western countries with almost 25% affected adults worldwide. The growing public health burden is getting evident when considering that NAFLD-related liver transplantations are predicted to almost double within the next 20 years. Typically, hepatic alterations start with simple steatosis, which easily progresses to more advanced stages such as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis and cirrhosis. This course of disease finally leads to end-stage liver disease such as hepatocellular carcinoma, which is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Although clinical trials show promising results, there is actually no pharmacological agent approved to treat NASH. Another important problem associated with NASH is that presently the liver biopsy is still the gold standard in diagnosis and for disease staging and grading. Because of its invasiveness, this technique is not well accepted by patients and the method is prone to sampling error. Therefore, an urgent need exists to find reliable, accurate and noninvasive biomarkers discriminating between different disease stages or to develop innovative imaging techniques to quantify steatosis.

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