Takahisa Kawaguchi, Yoshio Sumida, Atsushi Umemura, Keitaro Matsuo, Meiko Takahashi, Toshinari Takamura, Kohichiroh Yasui, Toshiji Saibara, Etsuko Hashimoto, Miwa Kawanaka, Sumio Watanabe, Sumio Kawata, Yasuharu Imai, Miki Kokubo, Toshihide Shima, Hyohun Park, Hideo Tanaka, Kazuo Tajima, Ryo Yamada, Fumihiko Matsuda, Takeshi Okanoue
BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) includes a broad range of liver pathologies from simple steatosis to cirrhosis and fibrosis, in which a subtype accompanying hepatocyte degeneration and fibrosis is classified as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NASH accounts for approximately 10-30% of NAFLD and causes a higher frequency of liver-related death, and its progression of NASH has been considered to be complex involving multiple genetic factors interacting with the environment and lifestyle...
2012: PloS One