Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, NAFLD) is a common disease that affects the health of about 30% of Americans. A large proportion of these people suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ( NASH), which often causes liver cirrhosis and even liver cancer. In recent years, NASH has become the main cause of liver transplantation. Recently, in a research paper published in the international journal Cancer Cell, researchers from the University of California have developed a new type of mouse model that can simulate human non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), using this Model, researchers can study how to interfere with inflammatory proteins to inhibit the occurrence of NASH and liver cancer. Dr. Michael Karin said that this research also provides hope for the use of related drugs for clinical testing of human NASH; we have discovered through research on mouse models that chemical components including approved drugs that can inhibit protein aggregation can be used. To suppress NASH caused by a high-fat diet.
The increase in the prevalence of NAFLD is directly related to the prevalence of obesity in the population. The main feature of NASH is the production of inflammation and fibrosis, which mainly damages the liver and eventually leads to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Therefore, the development of new strategies for NASH may effectively block the occurrence of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Researcher Nakagawa said that the new mouse model was developed based on a mouse named MUP-uPA. In the article, we fed it with a high-fat diet and at the same time caused liver damage, so that it would be cured within 24 weeks. It shows the characteristics of NASH, and within 40 weeks it will show the performance of hepatocellular carcinoma. This pathological characteristic is very similar to human hepatocellular carcinoma. Using this new mouse model, researchers discovered that tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a protein involved in the body's inflammatory response, may play an important role in the occurrence of NASH, liver fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Etanercept interferes with the synthesis of TNF, which can inhibit the occurrence of NASH and hepatocellular carcinoma. Finally, the researchers said that the development of new available mouse models for liver cancer research can effectively help researchers to quickly develop new targeted therapies or targeted drugs.