Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with significant fibrosis progression in NAFLD.

The effect of moderate alcohol consumption on NAFLD histology is disputed. Assessment of alcohol consumption is commonly performed with interview or questionnaires. Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) in blood is a highly sensitive and specific alcohol biomarker, which only forms in the presence of ethanol.

Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with advanced fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and shows a synergistic effect with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. Whether moderate alcohol consumption plays a role for progression of NAFLD is disputed. Moreover, it is not known which tool is ideal for assessment of alcohol consumption in NAFLD.

Modifiers of Liver-Related Manifestation in the Course of NAFLD.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease affecting approximately 25% of the global population. There is a strong association between the severity of NAFLD and the components of the metabolic syndrome. NAFLD is also independently associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Established and emerging factors affecting the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common chronic liver disease affecting approximately 25% of the global population. Although a majority of NAFLD patients will never experience liver-related symptoms it is estimated that 5-10% will develop cirrhosis-related complications with risk of death or need for liver transplantation. NAFLD is closely associated with cardiovascular disease and components of the metabolic syndrome.

PNPLA3 variant M148 causes resistance to starvation-mediated lipid droplet autophagy in human hepatocytes.

The mechanism of how patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) variant M148 is associated with increased risk of development of hepatic steatosis is still debated. Here, we propose a novel role of PNPLA3 as a key player during autophagosome formation in the process of lipophagy. A human hepatocyte cell line, HepG2 cells, expressing recombinant I148 or 148M, was used to study lipophagy under energy deprived conditions, and lipid droplet morphology was investigated using florescence microscopy, image analysis and biochemical assays.