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World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2016; 22(44): 9706-9717
Published online Nov 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i44.9706
Galectin-3 and IL-33/ST2 axis roles and interplay in diet-induced steatohepatitis
Nada Pejnovic, Ilija Jeftic, Nemanja Jovicic, Nebojsa Arsenijevic, Miodrag L Lukic
Nada Pejnovic, Ilija Jeftic, Nemanja Jovicic, Nebojsa Arsenijevic, Miodrag L Lukic, Center for Molecular Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
Author contributions: Pejnovic N, Jeftic I and Jovicic N wrote the manuscript and performed the experiments on dietary-induced animal steatohepatitis; Arsenijevic N and Lukic ML checked and revised the manuscript.
Supported by Swiss Science Foundation, No. SCOPES, IZ73Z0_152407.
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/
Correspondence to: Miodrag L Lukic, MD, PhD, Professor, Center for Molecular Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovica 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia. miodrag.lukic@medf.kg.ac.rs
Telephone: +38-134-306800 Fax: +38-134-306800-112
Received: June 28, 2016
Peer-review started: June 30, 2016
First decision: July 29, 2016
Revised: September 2, 2016
Accepted: September 14, 2016
Article in press: September 14, 2016
Published online: November 28, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Obesity-associated chronic low-grade inflammation (metaflammation) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Galectin-3 (Gal-3), a β-galactoside-binding protein, plays a regulatory role in metaflammation and tissue fibrosis. The Interleukin (IL)-33/ST2 pathway has a protective role in obesity and adipose tissue inflammation and promotes liver fibrosis. The characteristics of dietary-induced NASH differ in mice on different genetic backgrounds and Gal-3 and ST2 (IL-33R) knockout mice. In this report, we review current evidence on the roles of Gal-3 and the IL-33/ST2 pathway and their interplay in obesity-associated hepatic inflammation and fibrogenesis that may be of interest in the development of therapeutic interventions.