Metabolic Disease INSIGHTS

International Liver Congress™ 2019 Statistics. Source: EASL Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) continues to be a hot topic in metabolic disease research. The NASH research field gathers twice a year at major conferences: The Liver Meeting is organized by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in the US in the Autumn. International Liver Congress is organized by the European Association for the Study of the...  Read More

Stephanie Oldham and Christian Rivera of AstraZeneca recently presented a webinar on the use of a survivable liver biopsy in NASH mouse models, which is a technique that can provide valuable information on disease stage in individual mice prior to study initiation. In particular, it can be used to exclude outliers and properly randomize the remaining mice into study groups. Due to time constraints, many of the...  Read More

A wide variety of high fat diet-induced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) models have been used to recapitulate certain etiological aspects of the disease, with refinements in dietary formulations made over the past decade. Amylin liver NASH model The Amylin liver NASH (AMLN) model was described by Trevaskis et al. in 2012 as a diet-induced model which displayed both aspects of NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis) and metabolic syndrome. The authors...  Read More

Vitamins are organic molecules that are essential for proper metabolism and bodily function. While they go by different names, most vitamins are actually groups of chemically-related organic molecules known as vitamers1. Some vitamins must be obtained from dietary sources as they are produced in insufficient quantities or are not synthesized by the body at all. Humans have thirteen essential vitamins that must be obtained from dietary sources:...  Read More

Dr. Janell Richardson recently presented a webinar on the Diet Induced NASH B6, a translational model of NASH for drug discovery. She provided an excellent introduction to the global health problem of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), gave an overview of different types of preclinical NASH models and focused in on the Diet Induced NASH B6 as a relevant model of NASH in the context of a metabolic disease...  Read More

The second annual International NASH Day took place on June 12, 2019. This day of action was launched last year to bring awareness to the global epidemic of NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis). A coalition of worldwide organizations supported this effort including the American Liver Foundation, the Global Liver Institute and the NASH Education Program. According to a press release from the American Liver Foundation, "Millions of Americans are...  Read More

Inside each cell exist many complex smaller structures known as organelles. These micrometer-sized structures work to maintain intracellular transport, signaling, energy production, protein translation, DNA replication, and other essential cellular processes. One organelle which differs distinctly from others is the mitochondrion. In addition to generating the cell's energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), mitochondria have their own DNA and replicate by binary fission. Mitochondrial DNA...  Read More

Oxidative stress is defined as "a disturbance in the balance between the production of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) and antioxidant defenses1". Long term oxidative stress on cells has been shown to be a key promoter of the development of disease; particularly cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative disorders, hypertension, stroke, and arthritis2. Oxidative Stress and Cancer Risk Many cellular processes are negatively affected by increased oxidative stress, one,...  Read More

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with a chronic proinflammatory state of the liver1-3,10. The clinical pathogenesis of NASH progresses from a steatotic/intralobular inflammatory/hepatocellular ballooning state to progressing levels of fibrosis and in later stages, an increased incidence of cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma8-13. The etiology underlying this progression remains unknown, nor are there currently any approved therapies other than lifestyle modifications aimed at modulating or mitigating NASH11,12. Identifying...  Read More

Recent reports indicate that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are emerging public health threats. NAFLD is a common chronic liver disease, with estimates of incidence around 25% worldwide. NASH represents the more severe end of the NAFLD spectrum, with inflammation and fibrosis which can progress to cirrhosis and even liver cancer. According to Younossi et al., "NAFLD is one of the most important...  Read More