title: Molecular Pathogenesis of NASH.
abstract: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the main cause of chronic liver disease in the Western world and a major health problem, owing to its close association with obesity, diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome. NASH progression results from numerous events originating within the liver, as well as from signals derived from the adipose tissue and the gastrointestinal tract. In a fraction of NASH patients, disease may progress, eventually leading to advanced fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Understanding the mechanisms leading to NASH and its evolution to cirrhosis is critical to identifying effective approaches for the treatment of this condition. In this review, we focus on some of the most recent data reported on the pathogenesis of NASH and its fibrogenic progression, highlighting potential targets for treatment or identification of biomarkers of disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Clinica, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze 50121, Italy. alessandra.caligiuri@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caligiuri
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Clinica, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze 50121, Italy. alessandra.gentilini@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gentilini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Clinica, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze 50121, Italy. fabio.marra@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marra
keywords: chemokines; fibrosis; genetics; hepatic stellate cells; inflammation; macrophages; microbiota; nuclear receptors; pattern-recognition receptors