Patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 3 (PNPLA3) as a non-invasive marker in Diagnosis of NASH

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents a spectrum of progressive liver disease characterized by increased hepatic triglyceride content (HTGC) in the absence of excess alcohol consumption. NAFLD includes simple steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, fibrosis and ultimately cirrhosis, and is strongly associated with features of the metabolic syndrome (obesity, insulin resistance/type 2 diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia). In light of the dramatic increase in the prevalence of NAFLD in conjunction with the significant research effort in developing novel therapies for patients with NASH, noninvasive, simple, reproducible, and reliable biomarkers are greatly needed. They will not only help in the diagnosis of NASH, but also be useful for assessment of treatment response and prognosis and remain a research priority in the NAFLD field. NAFLD is defined as the presence of lipid accumulation within hepatocytes accounting for > 5% of the total liver weight (mainly in the perivenular region and periportal areas) together with no evidence of significant alcohol consumption (defined as > 21 drinks per week in men or > 14 drinks per week in women over the preceding 2-year period, or > 10 g of daily alcohol consumption at the current time), and no current treatment with steatogenic medication or presence of a dietary disorder.