Di Sessa A, Riccio S, Pirozzi E, Verde M, Passaro AP, Umano GR, Guarino S, Miraglia del Giudice E, Marzuillo P. Advances in paediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Role of lipidomics. World J Gastroenterol 2021; 27(25): 3815-3824 [PMID: 34321846 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i25.3815]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Pierluigi Marzuillo, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Woman, Child, and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Via de Crecchio 4, Naples 80138, Italy. pierluigi.marzuillo@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Pediatrics
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
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/
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 7, 2021; 27(25): 3815-3824 Published online Jul 7, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i25.3815
Advances in paediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Role of lipidomics
Anna Di Sessa, Simona Riccio, Emilia Pirozzi, Martina Verde, Antonio Paride Passaro, Giuseppina Rosaria Umano, Stefano Guarino, Emanuele Miraglia del Giudice, Pierluigi Marzuillo
Anna Di Sessa, Simona Riccio, Emilia Pirozzi, Martina Verde, Antonio Paride Passaro, Giuseppina Rosaria Umano, Stefano Guarino, Emanuele Miraglia del Giudice, Pierluigi Marzuillo, Department of Woman, Child, and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples 80138, Italy
Author contributions: Di Sessa A wrote the manuscript; Miraglia del Giudice E, Di Sessa A, and Marzuillo P conceived the manuscript; Guarino S, Miraglia del Giudice E, and Marzuillo P supervised the manuscript drafting; Riccio S, Passaro AP, Verde M, Pirozzi E, and Umano GR reviewed the literature data; Riccio S prepared the tables; all author contributed important intellectual content during manuscript drafting or revision.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest.
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: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Pierluigi Marzuillo, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Woman, Child, and General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Via de Crecchio 4, Naples 80138, Italy. pierluigi.marzuillo@gmail.com
Received: January 27, 2021 Peer-review started: January 27, 2021 First decision: March 29, 2021 Revised: April 6, 2021 Accepted: June 4, 2021 Article in press: June 4, 2021 Published online: July 7, 2021 Processing time: 159 Days and 3.8 Hours
Abstract
Due its close relationship with obesity, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a major worldwide health issue even in childhood. The most accepted pathophysiological hypothesis is represented by the “multiple hits” theory, in which both hepatic intracellular lipid accumulation and insulin resistance mainly contribute to liver injury through several factors. Among these, lipotoxicity has gained particular attention. In this view, the pathogenic role of different lipid classes in NAFLD (e.g., sphingolipids, fatty acids, ceramides, etc.) has been highlighted in recent lipidomics studies. Although there is some contrast between plasma and liver findings, lipidomic profile in the NAFLD context provides novel insights by expanding knowledge in the intricate field of NAFLD pathophysiology as well as by suggesting innovative therapeutic approaches in order to improve both NAFLD prevention and treatment strategies. Selective changes of distinct lipid species might be an attractive therapeutic target for treating NAFLD. Herein the most recent evidence in this attractive field has been summarized to provide a comprehensive overview of the lipidomic scenario in paediatric NAFLD.
Core Tip: Insightful data from lipidomics studies have recently expanded knowledge about nonalcoholic fatty liver disease pathophysiology. In fact, different lipids have been found to exert specific pathogenic roles in liver injury through several pathways (in particular by impairing insulin signalling). Given the cardiometabolic burden of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease even in childhood, lipidomics findings might improve strategies for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease treatment by providing novel therapeutic targets.
