Topic Highlight
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 21, 2014; 20(23): 7356-7365
Published online Jun 21, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i23.7356
Incretin based therapies: A novel treatment approach for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Kristina Blaslov, Tomislav Bulum, Karin Zibar, Lea Duvnjak
Kristina Blaslov, Tomislav Bulum, Karin Zibar, Lea Duvnjak, Vuk Vrhovac Clinic for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, University Hospital Merkur, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Author contributions: All the authors contributed equally to this work; Blaslov K and Bulum T designed the research; Blaslov K, Bulum T, Zibar K and Duvnjak L acquisited data and did the critical analysis and the data interpretation; Bulum T and Zibar K drafted the manuscript; Blaslov K, Bulum T, Zibar K and Duvnjak L wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Kristina Blaslov, MD, Vuk Vrhovac Clinic for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, University Hospital Merkur, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Dugi dol 4a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. kblaslov@gmail.com
Telephone: +385-1-2353829 Fax: +385-1-2353829
Received: October 13, 2013
Revised: December 7, 2013
Accepted: January 8, 2014
Published online: June 21, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: Insulin resistance is considered a fundamental problem in the genesis of hepatic steatosis and the pathophysiology of its development. In this review we discussed the role of incretin based therapies, including glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors as a potential novel agents in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease treatment comprising experimental and clinical data available so far which generally suggest that GLP-1 analogues as well as DPP-4 inhibitors might be involved in direct pathways of liver fat elimination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review comprising all the data about incretin based therapies in fatty liver treatment.