Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Fatty Liver Disease and Multi-System Complications, organized by Drs. Jay D. Horton, Morris J. Birnbaum and Hannele Yki-Jrvinen. The conference is part of Keystone Symposia?s eSymposia Conference Series and will be an online event from March 22-24, 2021. Although the frequency of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has risen worldwide in parallel with the obesity epidemic, there are still no approved therapies. The more advanced form of the disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), is associated with progressive fibrosis and an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the last decade, genetic studies have identified new proteins that participate not only in the development of hepatic steatosis, but also disease progression to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis, and HCC. Meanwhile, research is starting to emerge describing underlying molecular pathways that mediate alterations in lipid and glucose metabolism, which leads to fat accumulation in liver. Therefore, the goals of this conference are to: 1) Explore the genetic contributions to NAFLD, and how these insights might reveal the sequence of events that cause NASH and cirrhosis; 2) Present data underlying the proposal that the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) be renamed metabolic (dysfunction) associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD); 3) Clarify the key molecular events in NAFLD and NASH, focusing on pathways that might provide therapeutic opportunities; and 4) Highlight emerging therapies for NASH. This conference comes at an opportunistic time, when several clinical trials are scheduled to conclude, providing critical data to enable scientists to refine research strategies for the future.
Along with the global increase in the obesity epidemic, the frequency of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has also increased, yet there are still no approved therapies. The organizers have designed this Keystone Symposia conference to highlight the critical discoveries in the field and how these discoveries can be used to fill in important gaps in our knowledge of how NAFLD progresses. This conference represents a multidisciplinary approach and brings together experts, both basic scientists and clinicians, across diverse fields including biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, hepatology, nutrition, and physiology to exclusively focus on NAFLD development progression and treatment.
