Liver steatosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: from pathogenesis to therapy

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease refers to a disease spectrum that ranges from steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, which leads to fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Given the increasing prevalence of obesity worldwide, the incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has become a world health problem. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is considered to be the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome associated with insulin resistance, central obesity, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Allegedly, insulin resistance plays a pivotal role in its pathogenesis. Here we highlight non-alcoholic fatty liver disease epidemiology and pathophysiology, its progression towards steatohepatitis with particular emphasis in liver fibrosis and participation of advanced glycation end products. The different treatments reported are described here as well. We conducted a search in PubMed with the terms steatohepatitis, steatosis advanced glycation end products, liver fibrosis and adipocytokines. Articles were selected according to their relevance.