Interactions between hepatic iron and lipid metabolism with possible relevance to steatohepatitis

Figure 2 Schematic diagram depicting disease progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease modified after Gentile and Pagliassotti[101]. Iron overload is generally hypothesised to play a role in generation of second hit. In non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) disease, iron overload in the liver may promote the development and progression of steatohepatitis, working in a feed-forward manner to promote the “third hit”, on-going injury and death of hepatocytes leading to fibrosis and cirrhosis. NASH: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.