Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 7, 2019; 25(17): 2019-2028
Published online May 7, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i17.2019
Microbial metabolites in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Da Zhou, Jian-Gao Fan
Da Zhou, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai Institute of Liver Disease, Shanghai 200032, China
Jian-Gao Fan, Center for Fatty Liver, Department of Gastroenterology, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Key Lab of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Shanghai 200092, China
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Supported by National Key Research and Development Plan ‘ Precision Medicine Research’ , No. 2017YFSF090203; the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81470840, No. 81873565, and No. 81800510; and Shanghai Sailing Program, No. 18YF1415900.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jian-Gao Fan, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Center for Fatty Liver, Department of Gastroenterology, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Key Lab of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 1665 Kong Jiang Road, Shanghai 200092, China. fanjiangao@xinhuamed.com.cn
Telephone: +86-21-25077340 Fax: +86-21-63846590
Received: February 21, 2019
Peer-review started: February 22, 2019
First decision: March 20, 2019
Revised: March 25, 2019
Accepted: March 29, 2019
Article in press: March 30, 2019
Published online: May 7, 2019
Abstract

The prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is rising exponentially worldwide. The spectrum of NAFLD includes non-alcoholic fatty liver, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and even hepatocellular carcinoma. Evidence shows that microbial metabolites play pivotal roles in the onset and progression of NAFLD. In this review, we discuss how microbe-derived metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids, endogenous ethanol, bile acids and so forth, contribute to the pathogenesis of NAFLD.

Keywords: Microbial metabolites, Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, Short-chain fatty acids

Core tip: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global epidemic metabolic disease lacking effective therapeutic strategies and the internal pathogenesis is still uncertain. Gut microbiota-derived metabolites have attracted much attention for its association with the onset and progression of NAFLD. In this review, we mainly elucidate the diverse roles of microbe-derived metabolites in the development of NAFLD, which is conducive to better understanding the biological functions of microbial metabolites in NAFLD via the gut-liver axis and facilitating the excavation of potential therapeutic approaches for NAFLD.