Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 7, 2023; 29(1): 75-95
Published online Jan 7, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i1.75
Emerging novel targets for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment: Evidence from recent basic studies
Guang-Yan Wang, Xiao-Yan Zhang, Chun-Jiong Wang, You-Fei Guan
Guang-Yan Wang, Chun-Jiong Wang, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
Guang-Yan Wang, Chun-Jiong Wang, The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin 300070, China
Guang-Yan Wang, Chun-Jiong Wang, NHC Key Laboratory of Hormones and Development, Chu Hsien-I Memorial Hospital and Tianjin Institute of Endocrinology, Tianjin 300070, China
Xiao-Yan Zhang, Health Science Center, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
You-Fei Guan, Advanced Institute for Medical Sciences, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, Liaoning Province, China
You-Fei Guan, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, Liaoning Province, China
You-Fei Guan, Dalian Key Laboratory for Nuclear Receptors in Major Metabolic Diseases, Dalian 116044, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Wang GY and Wang CJ contributed to the drafting and figure composition of the manuscript; Zhang XY contributed to the editing and corrections of the manuscript; Wang CJ and Guan YF designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82170635, No. 81822006, and No. 81970606; Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin, No. 20JCYBJC01120.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: You-Fei Guan, MD, Professor, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Dalian Medical University, No. 9 West Section of Lushun South Road, Lushunkou District, Dalian 116044, Liaoning Province, China. guanyf@dmu.edu.cn
Received: October 4, 2022
Peer-review started: October 4, 2022
First decision: November 15, 2022
Revised: November 29, 2022
Accepted: December 13, 2022
Article in press: December 13, 2022
Published online: January 7, 2023
Core Tip

Core Tip: Because of the urgent need to develop therapeutic approaches to treat nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a large body of basic research has focused on the mechanisms of NAFLD to explore the possibility of new approaches to treat the disease. The current review summarizes studies reported in recent years that not only provide new insights into the mechanisms of NAFLD development but also explore the possibility of treating NAFLD by targeting newly identified signaling pathways. Evidence focusing on the intrahepatic targets involved in the pathogenesis of NAFLD as well as extrahepatic targets affecting liver metabolism and function are discussed.