Guest Editor(s)
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- Sonia Michael Najjar, MS, PhD
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and the Diabetes Institute, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA.
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Special Issue Introduction
Dear Colleagues
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NAFLD/NASH) has reached epidemic proportions. As a heterogeneous disease that can progress from hepatic steatosis to fibrosis and liver injury, it poses unique research and treatment challenges. In addition, it clusters with other cardiometabolic abnormalities, including diabetes, dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity, hypertension and atherosclerosis. Owing to the well-recognized role of altered metabolism in the initiation of this disease, NAFLD has recently been referred to as Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD). Insulin resistance (a condition of impaired insulin action) has been recognized as a mechanistic hallmark of early steps in hepatic steatosis in MAFLD. However, its role in the advanced stages of the disease (Hepatic Fibrosis) remains controversial. While scientists are racing to identify the mechanisms underlying liver injury with the overarching goal to develop drugs that directly target fibrosis, the repurposing of drugs regulating insulin action and secretion has also been pursued.
We invite investigators to contribute either original research or review articles focusing on the molecular mechanisms that cause or contribute to the initiation and progression of MAFLD/NASH and how these mechanisms support or disprove a link between altered metabolism and features of NASH, with a focus on liver injury. Articles should also discuss how these mechanisms can be affected by ethnic and environmental factors. We also welcome articles that focus on the mode of action of drugs targeting liver injury with a forward-looking perspective.
Looking forward to your collaboration on this exciting project.
Key Subjects:
•Drugs targeting NAFLD/MAFLD/NASH
•Environmental factors in NAFLD/MAFLD/NASH
•Dyslipidemia
•Hepatic fibrosis
•Insulin resistance
•Insulin signaling and MAFLD
•Liver injury
•Mechanisms of hepatic fibrosis
•NASH and cardiovascular disease
•Racial disparity in NAFLD/MAFLD/NASH
Prof. Sonia Michael Najjar
Guest Editor
Submission Deadline
1 Jul 2023
Metabolism and Target Organ Damage
