Finally, the current results should not be erroneously interpreted to mean that Hispanics are not at an increased risk of more severe NASH in the long term. Risk factors such as obesity, T2DM, and MetS occur more frequently and at an earlier age in Hispanics compared with other ethnic groups,27 and selleck screening library the cross-sectional nature of this study tells us nothing about the natural history of the disease and their lifetime risk of severe disease. In addition to environmental factors,

it will also be of interest to examine genetic determinants of hepatic steatosis and NASH, such as PNPLA3 I148M and other polymorphisms,39, 40 which appear to be more common in Hispanics.39, 41 However, it should be noted that these polymorphisms explained only a minority of the heritability of steatosis in a large meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies.40 Moreover, the PNPLA3 I148M is not associated with insulin resistance,42-44 and the liver steatosis differences between carriers and noncarriers of the polymorphism is only ≈4%-5% in absolute terms (8%-14% versus 4%-10%, respectively, when liver fat is measured by MRS).39, 41, 43 Of note, this was the range of hepatic steatosis difference observed between Hispanics and Caucasians in the present study (27% versus 24%, respectively). Again, much

high throughput screening assay more work in this area is needed to place the current findings in their true perspective. In conclusion, the current study demonstrates that Hispanics and Caucasians have similar insulin resistance and severity of NASH when matched for major clinical variables, in particular for total body fat, and that reported differences were more likely a reflection of a more unfavorable metabolic

risk of Hispanics compared with Caucasians. However, a reduction in vigilance in the Hispanic population with NASH is not the take-home message given their usual worse metabolic profile. Only longitudinal studies may fully establish the natural history of the disease in this ethnic group. Further work is needed to fully understand the role of hepatic steatosis in individuals of Hispanic ethnicity in relation to the natural history of the disease, its long-term effect on the risk Avelestat (AZD9668) of cirrhosis, and the response to pharmacological treatment of this population. We thank our study volunteers, the Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) nursing staff (in particular, Norma Diaz and Rose Kaminski-Graham), and the nutrition and laboratory staff for assistance in performing the described studies. “
“Aim:  Hepatic steatosis is linked to development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in non-viral liver disease such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The present study aimed to assess whether hepatic steatosis is associated with the development of HCC in chronic hepatitis C. Methods:  We studied a retrospective cohort of 1279 patients with chronic hepatitis C who received interferon (IFN) therapy between 1994 and 2005 at a single regional hospital in Japan.