scholarly journals Emerging Roles of Impaired Autophagy in Fatty Liver Disease and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Suryakant Niture ◽  
Minghui Lin ◽  
Leslimar Rios-Colon ◽  
Qi Qi ◽  
John T. Moore ◽  
...  

Autophagy is a conserved catabolic process that eliminates dysfunctional cytosolic biomolecules through vacuole-mediated sequestration and lysosomal degradation. Although the molecular mechanisms that regulate autophagy are not fully understood, recent work indicates that dysfunctional/impaired autophagic functions are associated with the development and progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Autophagy prevents NAFLD and AFLD progression through enhanced lipid catabolism and decreasing hepatic steatosis, which is characterized by the accumulation of triglycerides and increased inflammation. However, as both diseases progress, autophagy can become impaired leading to exacerbation of both pathological conditions and progression into HCC. Due to the significance of impaired autophagy in these diseases, there is increased interest in studying pathways and targets involved in maintaining efficient autophagic functions as potential therapeutic targets. In this review, we summarize how impaired autophagy affects liver function and contributes to NAFLD, AFLD, and HCC progression. We will also explore how recent discoveries could provide novel therapeutic opportunities to effectively treat these diseases.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diwakar Suresh ◽  
Akshatha N. Srinivas ◽  
Divya P. Kumar

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is a highly aggressive cancer with mortality running parallel to its incidence and has limited therapeutic options. Chronic liver inflammation and injury contribute significantly to the development and progression of HCC. Several factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, and demographic regions increase the HCC incidence rates and the major risk factors are chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV), carcinogens (food contaminants, tobacco smoking, and environmental toxins), and inherited diseases. In recent years evidence highlights the association of metabolic syndrome (diabetes and obesity), excessive alcohol consumption (alcoholic fatty liver disease), and high-calorie intake (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) to be the prime causes for HCC in countries with a westernized sedentary lifestyle. HCC predominantly occurs in the setting of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (80%), however, 20% of the cases have been known in patients with non-cirrhotic liver. It is widely believed that there exist possible interactions between different etiological agents leading to the involvement of diverse mechanisms in the pathogenesis of HCC. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of HCC development and progression is imperative in developing effective targeted therapies to combat this deadly disease. Noteworthy, a detailed understanding of the risk factors is also critical to improve the screening, early detection, prevention, and management of HCC. Thus, this review recapitulates the etiology of HCC focusing especially on the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)- and alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD)-associated HCC.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-28
Author(s):  
Tanita Suttichaimongkol

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a leading cause of death from liver cirrhosis, endstage liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma. It is also associated with increased cardiovasculardisease and cancer related mortality. While lifestyle modifications are the mainstay of treatment,only a proportion of patients are able to make due to difficult to achieve and maintain, and so moretreatment options are required such as pharmacotherapy. This review presents the drugs used inmanaging NAFLD and their pharmacologic targets. Therapies are currently directed towards improvingthe metabolic status of the liver, insulin resistance, cell oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammation orfibrosis. Several agents are now in large clinical trials and within the next few years, the availability oftherapeutic options for NAFLD will be approved.     Keywords: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis  


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 790
Author(s):  
Monica Lupsor-Platon ◽  
Teodora Serban ◽  
Alexandra Iulia Silion ◽  
George Razvan Tirpe ◽  
Alexandru Tirpe ◽  
...  

Global statistics show an increasing percentage of patients that develop non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and NAFLD-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), even in the absence of cirrhosis. In the present review, we analyzed the diagnostic performance of ultrasonography (US) in the non-invasive evaluation of NAFLD and NAFLD-related HCC, as well as possibilities of optimizing US diagnosis with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) assistance. To date, US is the first-line examination recommended in the screening of patients with clinical suspicion of NAFLD, as it is readily available and leads to a better disease-specific surveillance. However, the conventional US presents limitations that significantly hamper its applicability in quantifying NAFLD and accurately characterizing a given focal liver lesion (FLL). Ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) are an essential add-on to the conventional B-mode US and to the Doppler US that further empower this method, allowing the evaluation of the enhancement properties and the vascular architecture of FLLs, in comparison to the background parenchyma. The current paper also explores the new universe of AI and the various implications of deep learning algorithms in the evaluation of NAFLD and NAFLD-related HCC through US methods, concluding that it could potentially be a game changer for patient care.


Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Benjamin Buchard ◽  
Camille Teilhet ◽  
Natali Abeywickrama Samarakoon ◽  
Sylvie Massoulier ◽  
Juliette Joubert-Zakeyh ◽  
...  

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is considered as the forthcoming predominant cause for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). NAFLD-HCC may rise in non-cirrhotic livers in 40 to 50% of patients. The aim of this study was to identify different metabolic pathways of HCC according to fibrosis level (F0F1 vs. F3F4). A non-targeted metabolomics strategy was applied. We analyzed 52 pairs of human HCC and adjacent non-tumoral tissues which included 26 HCC developed in severe fibrosis or cirrhosis (F3F4) and 26 in no or mild fibrosis (F0F1). Tissue extracts were analyzed using 1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. An optimization evolutionary method based on genetic algorithm was used to identify discriminant metabolites. We identified 34 metabolites differentiating the two groups of NAFLD-HCC according to fibrosis level, allowing us to propose two metabolomics phenotypes of NAFLD-HCC. We showed that HCC-F0F1 mainly overexpressed choline derivatives and glutamine, whereas HCC-F3F4 were characterized by a decreased content of monounsaturated fatty acids (FA), an increase of saturated FA and an accumulation of branched amino acids. Comparing HCC-F0F1 and HCC-F3F4, differential expression levels of glucose, choline derivatives and phosphoethanolamine, monounsaturated FA, triacylglycerides were identified as specific signatures. Our metabolomics analysis of HCC tissues revealed for the first time two phenotypes of HCC developed in NAFLD according to fibrosis level. This study highlighted the impact of the underlying liver disease on metabolic reprogramming of the tumor.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
T.S. Sall ◽  
E.S. Shcherbakova ◽  
S.I. Sitkin ◽  
T.Ya. Vakhitov ◽  
I.G. Bakulin ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahinul Alam ◽  
Mahabubul Alam ◽  
Sheikh Mohammad Noor E Alam ◽  
Ziaur Rahman Chowdhury ◽  
Jahangir Kabir

Fatty liver is a common cause of chronic liver disease in developed as well as developing countries.We have designed this study to estimate the prevalence and predictors for non alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We have included 493 patients with sonographic evidence of fatty change in liver and 177 of them had done liver biopsy for histopathological study. Other causes of liver disease and alcohol consumption were excluded. Metabolic syndrome and biochemical and anthropometric evaluation was done. Females were predominating 250 (57.0 %). Centrally obese 422 (96.2 %) was more than over all obesity330 (75.1%). NASH was absent in 10 (5.6%) cases and diagnostic of NASH was 75 Journal of Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons Vol. 32, No. 2, April 2014 (42.4 %).Presence of diabetes could significantly (p = 0.001) predicted NASH. Age, sex, BMI, waist circumference, Serum HDL,triglyceride, insulin resistance index, hypertension, metabolic syndrome could not predict NASH. Serum GGT level was significantly (p = 0.05) higher in NASHwith a sensitivity of 45 % and specificity of 68 % only. Serum ALT and AST level could not detect NASH. Females were predominant sufferer of NAFLD in Bangladesh. Prevalence of NASH was much higher42.4%. Diabetes was the main predictor of NASH. GGT was the only biochemical indicator of NASH. We recommend liver biopsy in NAFLD with diabetes and raised GGT.J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2014; 32: 71-77


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