Reliability of caspase activity as a biomarker of hepatic apoptosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

A letter in response to: Yilmaz Y, Kurt R, Kalayci C. Apoptosis in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis with normal aminotransferase values: zooming in on cytokeratin 18 fragments. Biomarkers Med. 4(5), 743–745 (2010). </jats:p

Apoptosis and Disease Severity is Associated with Insulin Resistance in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Background & Aims : Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with insulin resistance (IR). We evaluated whether IR contributes to hepatocyte apoptosis, inflammation, and fibrosis in NAFLD

Fatty liver disease might increase the risk of abdominal operation in patients with fatty liver and the prevalence of cancer in first-degree relatives

63rd Annual Meeting of the American-Association-for-the-Study-of-Liver-Disease (AASLD) -- NOV 09-13, 2012 -- Boston, MAWOS: 000353553700026PubMed ID: 25910292Background/Aims: We investigated the risk of abdominal operation in patients with fatty liver and the risk of any cancer in first-degree relatives of patients with fatty liver. Materials and Methods: We evaluated 105 patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), 121 patients with biopsy-proven hepatitis C (61 patients with fatty liver and 60 patients without fatty liver), 50 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and 109 patients with dyspepsia. Results: There was no difference in sex, mean age, and marital status among the groups except that patients with IBD were younger than the others (p<0.001). The frequency of cancer among family members was 18% in IBD, 9% in dyspepsia, 28% in hepatitis C with steatosis, 21.5% in hepatitis C without steatosis, and 27% in NAFLD (p=0.006). Then, we divided the study group into two groups as follows: group 1: (IBD + dyspepsia + hepatitis C without steatosis) and group 2: (hepatitis C with steatosis + NAFLD). We found that the frequency of cancer was 16% in group 1 versus 24.4 % in group 2 (p=0.037). We also investigated the risk of abdominal operation in patients with fatty liver. The results were as follows: 33% in group without fatty liver versus 43% in group with fatty liver (p=0.043). Conclusion: Understanding the underlying causes of fatty liver forms might decrease the cancer frequency in the population and number of operations in patients with fatty liver.American Association for the Study of Liver Disease