This Research Topic is the second volume of the Community Series, Liver Fibrosis and MAFLD: from Molecular Aspects to Novel Pharmacological Strategies. Please find the first Edition
here.
Metabolic disorders, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, represent a critical health problem. This is mainly due to the economic cost of health services supporting the treatment for these patients of both primary and secondary disorder effects. Fatty liver damage associated with metabolic dysfunction is currently called Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD), a new concept proposed in 2020, which affects a quarter of the population worldwide and is characterized by liver fat accumulation and all the repercussions that this may bring, such as inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and in some cases, hepatocellular carcinoma.
Previously, NAFLD (Non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases) was a term that referred to a process characterized by excessive fatty infiltration in the liver in the absence of factors such as alcohol, autoimmune liver disease and viral hepatitis. However, a recent worldwide consensus has proposed the change from NAFLD to MAFLD based on the presence of one or more factors such as obesity/overweight, type 2 diabetes mellitus, or evidence of metabolic dysregulation. In this new concept, patients with MAFLD can express different inflammation or fibrosis stages, that is, this new disorder covers a broader spectrum of the liver damage.
In this Research Topic, we invite expert scholars in this area to contribute with both, original and review articles that address MAFLD from basic and clinical perspectives, elucidating novel aspects about the main molecular and cellular signaling pathways involved in the several damage processes related with MAFLD. Prospective topics include:
• Clinical diagnosis in MAFLD.
• Cellular mechanisms involved in MAFLD development: role of lipids accumulation.
• Cellular mechanisms involved in MAFLD development: importance of hyperglycemia (T2DM).
• Cellular mechanisms involved in MAFLD development: role of oxidative damage process.
• Cellular mechanisms involved in MAFLD development: role of fibrosis response.
• Epigenetic aspects involved in MAFLD development.
• Alterations in lipid metabolism enzymes.
• Novel pharmacologic alternatives for MAFLD treatment (basic and clinical studies).
• Main experimental models used for MAFLD study.
• Diabetes mellitus 2 and obesity, a key duo in MAFLD development.