title: Role of Serum Uric Acid and Ferritin in the Development and Progression of NAFLD.
abstract: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), tightly linked to the metabolic syndrome (MS), has emerged as a leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Since it is potentially progressive towards non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and hepatic fibrosis, up to cirrhosis and its associated complications, the need for predictive factors of NAFLD and of its advanced forms is mandatory. Despite the current "gold standard" for the assessment of liver damage in NAFLD being liver biopsy, in recent years, several non-invasive tools have been designed as alternatives to histology, of which fibroscan seems the most promising. Among the different serum markers considered, serum uric acid (SUA) and ferritin have emerged as possible predictors of severity of liver damage in NAFLD. In fact, as widely described in this review, they share common pathogenetic pathways and are both associated with hepatic steatosis and MS, thus suggesting a likely synergistic action. Nevertheless, the power of these serum markers seems to be too low if considered alone, suggesting that they should be included in a wider perspective together with other metabolic and biochemical parameters in order to predict liver damage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, IRCCS "Ca' Granda" IRCCS Foundation, Poiliclinico Hospital, University of Milan, Centro delle Malattie Metaboliche del Fegato, Milan 20122, Italy. rosalombardi@hotmail.it.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, IRCCS "Ca' Granda" IRCCS Foundation, Poiliclinico Hospital, University of Milan, Centro delle Malattie Metaboliche del Fegato, Milan 20122, Italy. pinaz81@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pisano
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, IRCCS "Ca' Granda" IRCCS Foundation, Poiliclinico Hospital, University of Milan, Centro delle Malattie Metaboliche del Fegato, Milan 20122, Italy. silvia.fargion@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fargion
mesh_terms: D018450:Disease Progression; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014527:Uric Acid; D005293:Ferritins
keywords: NASH; SUA; fibrosis; insulin resistance; liver damage; metabolic syndrome; oxidative stress; serum markers