Sleep Apnea Triggers Pediatric Fatty Liver Disease Progression

Obstructive sleep apnea and low nighttime oxygen - which results in oxidative stress - may trigger progression of pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) describes the accumulation of fat in the liver of people who drink little or no alcohol. In some individuals with the condition, the accumulated fat causes inflammation and scarring in the liver, resulting in a more serious form of the disease called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

A disease of epidemic proportions, rates of NAFLD are increasing worldwide in both adults and children. NAFLD affects an estimated 30 percent of the population in Western countries and up to 9.6 percent of all children.

Around 38 percent of obese children are affected across the NAFLD spectrum, which includes isolated hepatic steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, and cirrhosis.

Read more: Sleep Apnea Triggers Pediatric Fatty Liver Disease Progression

A combination of OSA and low nighttime oxygen triggered NAFLD progression in obese adolescents.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Scientists Identify Trigger and Treatment

Apart from lifestyle changes and weight loss, there are currently no effective or safe treatments for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Now, for the first time, researchers find that a protein called cdk4 occurs at higher levels in mouse models and human patients with the disease. Also, when they blocked the protein in mice, using drugs, it significantly reduced development of hepatic steatosis - the first stage of the disease.

The study, by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, is published in the journal Cell Reports.

Senior author Nikolai Timchenko, a professor in the department of surgery at the University of Cincinnati and head of the Liver Tumor Biology Program at Cincinnati Children's, says:

"This is the first study to show that cdk4 triggers development of NAFLD [non-alcoholic fatty liver disease] and that inhibiting this enzyme can both prevent and reverse the first step of the disease."

Read more: Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Scientists Identify Trigger and Treatment

The researchers found high levels of a protein called cdk4 in people with fatty livers.

Source: medicalnewstoday