NASH Observatory

⏿ The PanNASH Initiative is an interactive web-based platform presenting global NASH statistics to inform NASH control and research.

From number-one liver disease to multi-system disease: NASH, a major unmet clinical need

Prof. Sven Francque

In this opening talk of the 1st PanNASH webinar, Prof. Sven Francque (Belgium), one of the PanNASH editors, explains how NASH, the number-one liver disease, is part of a multisystem disease. He also sheds light on the etiology of this disease, its epidemiology, symptoms and consequences.

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From NAFLD/NASH to HCC: role of mitochondrial defects

This review by M. Longo et al. (IRCCS – Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy) discusses how mitochondrial defects may be translated into causative explanations of NAFLD-driven hepatocellular carcinoma. Acting as central metabolic hubs, the mitochondria rapidly adapt to different metabolic alterations...
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Obesity and liver cancer in Japan

It is estimated that there are more than 10 million NAFLD patients in Japan. 10-20% of NASH patients will progress to liver cirrhosis and 2-3% of them will develop hepatocellular carcinoma per year. In their review, H. Nishikawa et al. (Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Takatsuki, and Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan) comprehensively...
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Increasing prevalence of NAFLD/NASH among children, adolescents, and young adults

X. Zhang et al. (Fudan University, Shanghai, China) collected, from the Global Burden of Disease database, annual cases, and prevalence of NAFLD/NASH from 1990 to 2017, by sex, region and country. This study shows that both the prevalence and number of cases of NAFLD/NASH have...
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NAFLD/NASH-related liver fibrosis: mechanisms, treatment, and prevention

NAFLD or NASH are nowadays the leading causes of hepatic fibrosis worldwide. In their review, F. Tacke (Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany) and R. Weiskirchen (RWTH University Hospital, Aachen, Germany) discuss recent advances in antifibrotic prevention and therapy....
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NASH-NAFLD: clinical impact of sexual dimorphism

NAFLD/NASH is a sex dimorphic disease, with a general higher prevalence in men. Women are at reduced risk of NAFLD compared to men in fertile age. Sexual category, sex hormones and gender habits interact with numerous NAFLD factors including cytokines, stress, and environmental factors and alter the risk profiles and phenotypes of NAFLD...
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Assessment of imaging modalities against liver biopsy

Multiparametric MRI is a promising technique to assess hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis, potentially enabling non-invasive identification of individuals with active and advanced stages of NAFLD. The aim of the current proof-of-principle study by M. A. Troelstra et al. (Amsterdam University Medical Centres, The ...
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Immunotherapy-treated HCC: NASH limits anti-tumour surveillance

Immunotherapy has been approved for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but biomarker-based stratification of patients for optimal response to therapy is an unmet need. In preclinical models of NASH-induced HCC, therapeutic immunotherapy targeted at programmed death-1 (PD1) did not lead...
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Rising awareness on NAFLD progression by influencing threat perceptions

It is estimated that around 70% of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients (T2DM) have NAFLD. Awareness and education are major shortcomings of the public health response to the increasing threat of NAFLD. Characterising the specific NAFLD-related information needs of particular high-risk metabolic communities might aid in the development of...
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