Targher Giovanni
Department of Medicine, Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, University of Verona, 37126 Verona, Italy.
Metabolites. 2020 Oct 8;10(10):397. doi: 10.3390/metabo10100397.
Since the initial descriptions in the early 1980s by Dr. Ludwig et al. and Drs. Schaffner and Thaler, who firstly coined the terms nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), this liver disease has become a global health problem worldwide, causing considerable liver-related and extra-hepatic morbidity and mortality. Based on pathophysiological insights gained from the past decades, it has been clearly established that NAFLD is a metabolic liver disease whose etiology and pathogenesis extends beyond the liver and that NAFLD has important clinical implications, especially in terms of an increased risk of developing both cardiovascular disease (which represents the leading cause of death in this patient population) and other extra-hepatic manifestations, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, and some extra-hepatic cancers. The aim of this brief commentary is to discuss a recent review article written by Dr. Lonardo and colleagues, who raised awareness of the history of NAFLD. Since "What's past is prologue", I believe that this review article focusing on the history of NAFLD may contribute to better understanding the disease itself, as well as to anticipating the lines of the future clinical and pharmacological research of this common and burdensome liver disease.
自20世纪80年代初路德维希博士等人以及沙夫纳博士和泰勒博士首次描述以来，他们率先提出了非酒精性脂肪性肝炎（NASH）和非酒精性脂肪肝病（NAFLD）这两个术语，这种肝脏疾病已成为全球范围内的一个健康问题，导致了大量与肝脏相关的及肝外的发病和死亡情况。基于过去几十年所获得的病理生理学见解，现已明确NAFLD是一种代谢性肝脏疾病，其病因和发病机制超出了肝脏范畴，并且NAFLD具有重要的临床意义，尤其是在增加患心血管疾病（这是该患者群体的主要死因）以及其他肝外表现如2型糖尿病、慢性肾脏病和某些肝外癌症的风险方面。这篇简短评论的目的是讨论洛纳尔多博士及其同事撰写的一篇近期综述文章，该文章提高了人们对NAFLD历史的认识。既然“过去是序幕”，我认为这篇聚焦于NAFLD历史的综述文章可能有助于更好地理解该疾病本身，以及预测这种常见且负担沉重的肝脏疾病未来临床和药理学研究的方向。
