Potential Treatment Targets for Non-alcoholic Liver Disease

A special issue of Medicines (ISSN 2305-6320).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2018) | Viewed by 9391

Special Issue Editor

Medicine–Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94304, USA
Interests: nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome (MS) in some or may lead to MS in others and, thus, necessitates a multidisciplinary management approach. In addition, in some cases, it may not be associated with MS and presents as an isolated clinical entity. It is estimated that the global prevalence of NAFLD is over 1 billion. NAFLD affects 80 to 100 million persons in the United States, with up to 15 million developing progressive liver damage resulting in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NASH is the most rapidly rising indication for liver transplantation in the United States. Despite its high prevalence and a significant proportion of NAFLD cases resulting in cirrhosis followed by end-stage liver disease (liver failure), hepatocellular carcinoma, and need for liver transplantation, there are no medications approved for the treatment of NAFLD.

In this Special Issue, we attempt to systematically review current approaches and future prospects to optimize the management of NAFLD.

Prof. Dr. Aijaz Ahmed
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
  • metabolic syndrome (MS)
  • nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)
  • end-stage liver disease (liver failure)
  • liver transplantation
  • chronic liver disease

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

19 pages, 486 KiB  
Review
The Epidemiology, Risk Profiling and Diagnostic Challenges of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
by Umair Iqbal, Brandon J. Perumpail, Daud Akhtar, Donghee Kim and Aijaz Ahmed
Medicines 2019, 6(1), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/medicines6010041 - 18 Mar 2019
Cited by 73 | Viewed by 9148
Abstract
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) encompasses a wide spectrum of liver damage from the more prevalent (75%–80%) and nonprogressive nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) category to its less common and more ominous subset, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NAFLD is now the most common cause of [...] Read more.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) encompasses a wide spectrum of liver damage from the more prevalent (75%–80%) and nonprogressive nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) category to its less common and more ominous subset, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NAFLD is now the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the developed world and is a leading indication for liver transplantation in United States (US). The global prevalence of NAFLD is estimated to be 25%, with the lowest prevalence in Africa (13.5%) and highest in the Middle East (31.8%) and South America (30.4%). The increasing incidence of NAFLD has been associated with the global obesity epidemic and manifestation of metabolic complications, including hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. The rapidly rising healthcare and economic burdens of NAFLD warrant institution of preventative and treatment measures in the high-risk sub-populations in an effort to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with NAFLD. Genetic, demographic, clinical, and environmental factors may play a role in the pathogenesis of NAFLD. While NAFLD has been linked with various genetic variants, including PNPLA-3, TM6SF2, and FDFT1, environmental factors may predispose individuals to NAFLD as well. NAFLD is more common in older age groups and in men. With regards to ethnicity, in the US, Hispanics have the highest prevalence of NAFLD, followed by Caucasians and then African-Americans. NAFLD is frequently associated with the components of metabolic syndrome, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Several studies have shown that the adoption of a healthy lifestyle, weight loss, and pro-active management of individual components of metabolic syndrome can help to prevent, retard or reverse NAFLD-related liver damage. Independently, NAFLD increases the risk of premature cardiovascular disease and associated mortality. For this reason, a case can be made for screening of NAFLD to facilitate early diagnosis and to prevent the hepatic and extra-hepatic complications in high risk sub-populations with morbid obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic risk factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Potential Treatment Targets for Non-alcoholic Liver Disease)
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