Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Research 2016

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of IJMS, entitled “Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Research 2015" will cover a selection of recent research topics and current review articles in the field of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in Western countries and is predicted to be the most common cause of liver transplantation by 2030.

NAFLD has a bidirectional and inextricable association with metabolic disorders of which it is both the cause and the effect. On these grounds, it comes as no surprise that the clinical and social burden of NAFLD is not only confined to liver-related morbidity and mortality (e.g., cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma), and that NAFLD is a truly a multisystem disease, affecting multiple regulatory pathways and pathophysiologically linked with several extra-hepatic diseases. For example, NAFLD increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular and cardiac diseases. Moreover, NAFLD is also linked to other invalidating chronic conditions, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV), HIV infections, chronic kidney disease, extra-hepatic cancers, and chronic plaque psoriasis.

Against this background, further research is needed to understand genetic modifiers, natural history, and the molecular pathogenesis of NAFLD, as well as the biological mechanisms by which NAFLD influences the risk of hepatocarcinoma and extra-hepatic diseases. It is also important to establish whether there are key ‘common threads’ that link NAFLD to the development of extra-hepatic diseases.

Some of the leading researchers in this area have accepted to contribute to this Special Issue of IJMS in order to provide an updated, state-of-the-art view on these topics, as well as to indicate novel research avenues.

 

Dr. Amedeo Lonardo
Dr. Giovanni Targher
Guest Editors

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