Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition that affects a lot of people, with nearly one-third of Europeans suffering from it.
Simply put, it is a disease where fat builds up in the liver even though the person doesn’t drink alcohol. Over time, NAFLD can progress to something called liver cirrhosis.
In this state, the liver becomes badly scarred and can’t function properly, and the only way to treat it is through a liver transplant.
Therefore, detecting non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in its early stages is crucial.
Subheading 2: The Role of Certain White Blood Cells
Recently, a team of researchers from MedUni Vienna have taken a big step forward in understanding NAFLD. They have figured out the important role of a certain kind of white blood cell in the disease.
These cells, known as macrophages, are part of the body’s immune system. A specific type of these macrophages, known as TREM2-positive macrophages, seems to play a protective role against liver scarring.
In people with NAFLD, there are a lot of these TREM2-positive macrophages in the liver. They tend to gather in parts of the liver where there is damage or fibrosis (a fancy word for scarring).
The researchers conducted experiments in animals and found that these specific macrophages help in stopping the fat build-up, reducing inflammation, and preventing the disease from getting worse.
This understanding opens up a new possibility for treating the disease. By enhancing the protective function of these TREM2-positive macrophages, we might be able to develop better treatments for fatty liver disease.
Subheading 3: Using a Blood Test to Detect Liver Disease
Another interesting thing about the TREM2-positive macrophages is that they can be detected in the blood. A part of these macrophages, called sTREM2, can be found in the blood.
This feature is handy because it means that we can use a simple blood test to check for these cells. The researchers found that this test is really good at telling how severe a person’s liver disease is.
Tim Hendrikx, the lead researcher of the study, says, “The soluble form of TREM2 is an excellent biomarker for identifying and staging advanced liver disease, which can progress from fatty liver disease to incurable cirrhosis if left untreated.”
In other words, this new biomarker can help us spot liver disease earlier and monitor it better, which can improve the treatment and management of the disease.
This discovery is a major step forward in our understanding of NAFLD and could pave the way for new treatments and better ways to monitor the disease.
If you care about liver health, please read studies about simple habit that could give you a healthy liver, and common diabetes drug that may reverse liver inflammation.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about simple blood test that could detect your risk of fatty liver disease, and results showing this green diet may strongly lower non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
The study was published in the Journal of Hepatology.
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