Role of Leptin in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Open Access
- 30 June 2021
- journal article
- review article
- Published by MDPI AG in Biomedicines
- Vol. 9 (7), 762
- https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9070762
Abstract
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which affects about a quarter of the global population, poses a substantial health and economic burden in all countries, yet there is no approved pharmacotherapy to treat this entity, nor well-established strategies for its diagnosis. Its prevalence has been rapidly driven by increased physical inactivity, in addition to excessive calorie intake compared to energy expenditure, affecting both adults and children. The increase in the number of cases, together with the higher morbimortality that this disease entails with respect to the general population, makes NAFLD a serious public health problem. Closely related to the development of this disease, there is a hormone derived from adipocytes, leptin, which is involved in energy homeostasis and lipid metabolism. Numerous studies have verified the relationship between persistent hyperleptinemia and the development of steatosis, fibrinogenesis and liver carcinogenesis. Therefore, further studies of the role of leptin in the NAFLD spectrum could represent an advance in the management of this set of diseases.Keywords
This publication has 105 references indexed in Scilit:
- Mechanisms for Insulin Resistance: Common Threads and Missing LinksCell, 2012
- Clinical Effects of Long-Term Metreleptin Treatment in Patients With LipodystrophyEndocrine Practice, 2011
- Evolution of Leptin Structure and FunctionNeuroendocrinology, 2011
- Serum leptin and ghrelin in chronic hepatitis C patients with steatosisWorld Journal of Gastroenterology, 2011
- Leptin therapy in insulin-deficient type I diabetesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Hypothalamic Leptin Signaling Regulates Hepatic Insulin Sensitivity via a Neurocircuit Involving the Vagus NerveEndocrinology, 2009
- Leptin Augments the Acute Suppressive Effects of Insulin on Hepatic Very Low-Density Lipoprotein Production in RatsEndocrinology, 2009
- Molecular and neural mediators of leptin actionPhysiology & Behavior, 2008
- The Levels of Ghrelin, Leptin, TNF-α, and IL-6 in Liver Cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma due to HBV and HDV InfectionMediators of Inflammation, 2006
- Suppression of hepatocellular carcinoma growth in mice via leptin, is associated with inhibition of tumor cell growth and natural killer cell activationJournal of Hepatology, 2006