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Review
. 2018 Oct;10(4):213-219.
doi: 10.15171/mejdd.2018.113. Epub 2018 Jul 17.

Role of MicroRNAs in Pathophysiology of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis

Farzaneh Iravani  1 , Neda Hosseini  2 , Majid Mojarrad  3
Affiliations
Review

Role of MicroRNAs in Pathophysiology of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis

Farzaneh Iravani et al. Middle East J Dig Dis. 2018 Oct.

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder worldwide. It includes wide range of diseases from different subtypes of simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which may be complicated by liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, or hepatocellular carcinoma. Of the epigenetic factors that play a key role in the progression of it, is microRNAs (miRNAs). MiRNAs are short non-coding RNAs of 22-23 nucleotides in length, which regulate a large number of genes that have a critical role in regulation of lipid and cholesterol biosynthesis in hepatocytes. MiRNAs can be used as a very powerful biomarker to diagnosis and follow-up any disorder, such as NAFLD and NASH with a high specificity and sensitivity. The aim of this study was to review the role of different miRNAs in the pathophysiology of NASH and NAFLD.

Keywords: Biomarker; MicroRNAs; NAFLD; NASH.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this work.

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