Identification of genetic risk variants of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Identification of genetic risk variants of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Lay summary

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is emerging as the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the Western world, where prevalence in Europe is 20-30%. Simple hepatic steatosis may lead to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis and cirrhosis. NAFLD is characterized by a considerable inter-patient variability in terms of severity and progression rate to NASH and fibrosis and is a complex disease resulting from environmental exposures acting on a susceptible polygenic background and comprising multiple independent modifiers.

In this proposal, we aim to identify the association of genome and disease with functional explanation, which provides further insight into the genetic architecture of NAFLD. We aim to discover novel genetic factors that influence the pathogenesis and progression of NAFLD. This project will approximately take 24 months.

Our proposed health-related research meets the purpose of the UK Biobank, where our study aims to improve prevention and diagnosis of NAFLD, which has great public interest.