Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and intestinal immune status: a narrative review

Abstract

Background and objectives: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) interacts with the gut immunity. However, the mechanisms underlying alternations of intestinal immune system in NAFLD remains unclear. To date, no effective medical interventions exist that completely reverse the disease. In this review, we mainly elaborates on the impact of NAFLD on intestinal immune cells and briefly summarize the new treatment methods for NAFLD targeting at intestinal immune cells.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science for English-language sources. The preferred citations were meta-analyses and systematic or narrative reviews. Citation tracking was completed for all identified studies included in the refined library, using Google Scholar. No restriction was placed on the year of publication for the included reports.

Results: The intestinal immune imbalance promotes liver inflammation and fibrosis in the process of NAFLD, and meanwhile, NAFLD influences disorders of immune cells in the liver and intestinal tract. Biological agents targeting at intestinal immunity has been shown in preclinical studies to be an effective method for systemic immune modulation and alleviates immune-mediated injury.

Conclusions: Intestinal immune disorder plays an important role in triggering and amplifying hepatic inflammation in NAFLD. Advances in knowledge of the gut-liver axis are driving the development of diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tools based on intestine immunity for the management of NAFLD.

Keywords:

• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• intestinal immune cell
• macrophage
• dendritic cell
• innate lymphoid cell
• lymphocyte

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors. Ethical approval and informed consent are not required.

Disclose statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant no. 81500402] and National Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning, China, [grant no. 20180530055].