Hepatokines: Linking nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and insulin resistance

Abstract

Hepatic steatosis is an underlying feature of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is the most common form of liver disease and is present in up to â 1/470% of individuals who are overweight. NAFLD is also associated with hypertriglyceridaemia and low levels of HDL, glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Hepatic steatosis is a strong predictor of the development of insulin resistance and often precedes the onset of other known mediators of insulin resistance. This sequence of events suggests that hepatic steatosis has a causal role in the development of insulin resistance in other tissues, such as skeletal muscle. Hepatokines are proteins that are se..