Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Strategies Related to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 23; no. 14; p. 7841
• Main Authors: Teng, Tieshan, Qiu, Shuai, Zhao, Yiming, Zhao, Siyuan, Sun, Dequan, Hou, Lingzhu, Li, Yihang, Zhou, Ke, Yu, Xixi, Yang, Changyong, Li, Yanzhang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 16.07.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Autophagy; Cirrhosis; Diabetes; Diet; Drug development; E coli; Endoplasmic reticulum; Fatty acids; Fatty liver; Fibrosis; Glucose; hepatic fibrosis; Hypotheses; Inflammation; Insulin; Insulin resistance; Lipids; Liver; Liver cancer; Liver cirrhosis; Liver diseases; Metabolic disorders; Metabolic syndrome; Metabolites; Microbiota; NAFLD; Obesity; Oxidative stress; Pathogenesis; Patients; Phenotypes; Proteins; Review; Signs and symptoms; steatosis; Therapeutic targets; Triglycerides; Weight control
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms23147841

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), one of the most common types of chronic liver disease, is strongly correlated with obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and genetic components. The pathological progression of NAFLD, consisting of non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and liver cirrhosis, is characterized by a broad spectrum of clinical phenotypes. Although patients with mild NAFL are considered to show no obvious clinical symptoms, patients with long-term NAFL may culminate in NASH and further liver fibrosis. Even though various drugs are able to improve NAFLD, there are no FDA-approved medications that directly treat NAFLD. In this paper, the pathogenesis of NAFLD, the potential therapeutic targets, and their underlying mechanisms of action were reviewed.