NASH Observatory

A substantial body of literature supports that a low muscle mass, low strength, and/or muscle fatty infiltration (myosteatosis) are associated with NAFLD severity. In order to decipher the kinetics of muscle alterations in relation with liver disease progression, M. Nachit et al. (Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research, UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium)...

SA Alqahtani et al. remind us of the burden of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In the USA, it is the most common cause of chronic liver disease and the prevalence is estimated to be about 25% and will increase in future years. For the management of patients with NAFLD, the determination of the fibrosis is essential. Liver biopsy is the gold standard...

Significant progress has been made over the past decade in our understanding of NASH pathogenesis, but gaps remain in our mechanistic knowledge of the precise metabolic triggers for disease worsening. Many factors associated with dysregulated systemic metabolism have been implicated in some way with the progression...

As pointed out by Gabriella Assante et al. (The Institute of Hepatology, Foundation for Liver Research, London, UK), two recent studies in the Journal of Hepatology suggest that MAFLD is a risk factor for progression to severe COVID-19. More studies are required to confirm this. However, it potentially adds MAFLD to a list of risk factors that also includes obesity...

A growing body of evidence places skeletal muscle and the muscle-liver axis at the center of the NAFLD pathogenic cascade. Skeletal muscle is implicated via its impact on insulin resistance and systemic inflammation. Population-based studies suggest that sarcopenia is an effect-modifier across the NAFLD spectrum and is tightly linked...

There is growing evidence to support that NAFLD is a multisystem disease, and it involves extra-hepatic organ systems. Most of the studies have evaluated the association of NAFLD with cardiovascular disease, T2DM, and chronic kidney disease. Studies have also suggested association of NAFLD with colorectal cancer, obstructive sleep apnea, polycystic ovarian...

X. Zhu et al. (Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Comprehensive Transplant Center, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California) aimed to evaluate the association of NAFLD-associated hepatic fibrosis with bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose regulation...

As the COVID-19 continues to pose extreme challenges to healthcare systems, it is becoming impossible to avoid the overlap between COVID-19 and NASH pandemics. Numerous trials are being conducted despite the crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many aspects of NASH clinical trials, such as patient recruitment, administration...