Novel high-throughput applications for NAFLD diagnostics and biomarker discovery

Abstract

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver condition worldwide due to the global proliferation of obesity, which has become an insidious healthcare epidemic. While nonalcoholic fatty liver is recognized as a multi-system disease, benign and pernicious in its unfolding, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is the more severe form progressing from cirrhosis to hepatocellular carcinoma. Unfortunately, liver biopsy - beset by many limitations - is the only accurate diagnostic tool setting the benchmark for a plethora of non-invasive biomarkers which have so far proved limited in their reliability and take-up. As a result, we need better diagnostic and prognostic tools to aid in the identification and stratification of patients at risk of disease progression in order to enhance treatment and monitoring strategies. In this review, we explore the performance as well as pros and cons of three novel technologies that could have the potential to become the next generation in NAFLD diagnostic testing. To harness these technologies, however, we suggest that more work needs to be done to refine and validate the technology features under review, while suggesting ways in which personalized medicine could be mobilized to discover the next generation in non-invasive diagnostics