Keeping score against NASH: How biomarker assays can help identify patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is defined by the accumulation of lipids in hepatocytes, in the absence of significant alcohol intake, viral infection, or other etiologies of fatty liver disease. Within NAFLD there is a spectrum of histopathologic features that includes hepatic steatosis or fatty liver, steatosis accompanied by liver inflammation and liver cell injury (ballooning) which is referred to as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), liver fibrosis and NASH-related cirrhosis. NAFLD is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease in developed countries , and the most common cause in North America, largely due to the increased prevalence of comorbidities such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.