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  • Year in Review
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NAFLD IN 2019

What’s new in NAFLD pathogenesis, biomarkers and treatment?

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 17, pages 70–71 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Advances have been made in the field of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in 2019. One paper highlights the role of gut microbiota in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pathogenesis, another presents a noninvasive algorithm for detecting advanced liver fibrosis and another suggests a potential novel approach to treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and suppressing HCC development.

Key advances

  • The altered gut microbiota profile is associated with systemic inflammation in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)-related cirrhosis who have hepatocellular carcinoma2

  • Measuring blood markers related to type III collagen might be useful for staging liver fibrosis in both adults and children with NAFLD5,6

  • Platelet count, activation and aggregation are increased in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and antiplatelet therapies should be tested10

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Fig. 1: New findings in NAFLD in 2019.

References

  1. Sanyal, A. J. Past, present and future perspectives in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 16, 377–386 (2019).

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  2. Ponziani, F. R. et al. Hepatocellular carcinoma is associated with gut microbiota profile and inflammation in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Hepatology 69, 107–120 (2019).

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  6. Mosca, A. et al. Plasma N-terminal propeptide of type III procollagen accurately predicts liver fibrosis severity in children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Liver Int. https://doi.org/10.1111/liv.14225 (2019).

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  8. Sitia, G. et al. Antiplatelet therapy prevents hepatocellular carcinoma and improves survival in a mouse model of chronic hepatitis B. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, E2165–E2172 (2012).

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  9. Pavlovic, N. et al. Platelets as key factors in hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancers 11, E1022 (2019).

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  10. Malehmir, M. et al. Platelet GPIbalpha is a mediator and potential interventional target for NASH and subsequent liver cancer. Nat. Med. 25, 641–655 (2019).

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Acknowledgements

C.D.B. is supported in part by Southampton National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre, UK. G.T. is supported in part by the University School of Medicine of Verona, Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southampton National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK

    Christopher D. Byrne

  2. Nutrition and Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Christopher D. Byrne

  3. Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Giovanni Targher

Authors
  1. Christopher D. Byrne
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Correspondence to Christopher D. Byrne.

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Byrne, C.D., Targher, G. What’s new in NAFLD pathogenesis, biomarkers and treatment?. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 17, 70–71 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-019-0239-2

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