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Genes and NAFLD/NASH Progression

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NAFLD and NASH

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Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global health issue that afflicts approximately a quarter of the population and increases the risk of both liver complications, as well as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The histological spectrum of NAFLD includes steatosis with or without steatohepatitis, and extends right through to fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. A cardinal feature of the phenotype is marked heterogeneity and inter-individual variation in both disease susceptibility and progression. This is at least partially attributed to genetic and epigenetic variation. Recent years have witnessed an exponential growth in knowledge of the genetic architecture of NAFLD that has been fuelled to a large extent by genome-wide association and large candidate gene studies. In this review, we provide an overview of current knowledge pertaining to the genetic and epigenetic basis of NAFLD, the potential translational implications of this knowledge, current challenges and perspectives on the future of advances in this field for precision medicine.

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Acknowledgements

ME and JG are supported by the Robert W. Storr Bequest to the Sydney Medical Foundation, University of Sydney; a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Program Grant (APP1053206, APP1149976) and Project grants (APP1107178 and APP1108422).

Competing interest’s statement: The authors declare no competing interests for this manuscript.

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  1. Storr Liver Centre, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Rasha El Sharkawy, Jacob George & Mohammed Eslam

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  1. UCM Digestive Diseases, Virgen del Rocio University Hospital, Sevilla, Spain

    Manuel Romero-Gomez

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El Sharkawy, R., George, J., Eslam, M. (2020). Genes and NAFLD/NASH Progression. In: Romero-Gomez, M. (eds) NAFLD and NASH. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37173-9_3

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