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REVIEW article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Cellular Endocrinology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1374644

The pivotal role of dysregulated autophagy in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Provisionally accepted
Qiaohui Shen Qiaohui Shen 1Ming Yang Ming Yang 1,2Song Wang Song Wang 2Xingyu Chen Xingyu Chen 2Sulan Chen Sulan Chen 1Rui Zhang Rui Zhang 1Zhuang Xiong Zhuang Xiong 2Yan Leng Yan Leng 1,2*
  • 1 Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China
  • 2 The Affiliated Hospital of Changchun University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changchun, Jilin Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a clinicopathologic syndrome characterized by excessive fat deposition in hepatocytes and a major cause of end-stage liver disease. Autophagy is a metabolic pathway responsible for degrading cytoplasmic products and damaged organelles, playing a pivotal role in maintaining the homeostasis and functionality of hepatocytes. Recent studies have shown that pharmacological intervention to activate or restore autophagy provides benefits for liver function recovery by promoting the clearance of lipid droplets (LDs) in hepatocytes, decreasing the production of pro-inflammatory factors, and inhibiting activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), thus improving liver fibrosis and slowing down the progression of NAFLD. This article summarizes the physiological process of autophagy, elucidates the close relationship between NAFLD and autophagy, and discusses the effects of drugs on autophagy and signaling pathways from the perspectives of hepatocytes, kupffer cells (KCs), and HSCs to provide assistance in the clinical management of NAFLD.

    Keywords: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Autophagy, autophagosome, autolysosome, Hepatocytes, Kupffer Cells, Hepatic Stellate Cells

    Received: 23 Jan 2024; Accepted: 23 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Shen, Yang, Wang, Chen, Chen, Zhang, Xiong and Leng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yan Leng, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.