细胞外囊泡在非酒精脂肪肝发病机制及诊断治疗中的作用

The Role of Extracellular Vesicles in the Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment of NAFLD

非酒精性脂肪性肝病(nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, NAFLD)是21世纪全球最重要的公共健康问题之一,也是我国愈来愈重要的慢性肝病问题。细胞间通讯在NAFLD病理进程中发挥重要作用。细胞外囊泡(extracellular vesicles, EVs)是近年来备受关注的细胞间通讯方式。EVs携带脂质、蛋白质、DNA、mRNA以及非编码RNA等作为信号分子在细胞间的物质和信息交流中起重要作用,参与了多个生理病理过程。目前细胞外囊泡在非酒精脂肪肝发病机制及诊断治疗中的作用方面的研究非常有限,但初步研究显示, EVs在NAFLD病程发展中发挥重要作用。因此,该文重点关注EVs参与NAFLD病程机制研究,并对其在NAFLD防治中的潜在诊疗价值作简要综述。

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease （NAFLD） is not only one of the most important public health problems in the 21th century, but also the main cause of chronic liver disease in our country. Intercellular communications play a great role in the progress of NAFLD. Recently, extracellular vesicles （EVs） become a novel mediator for intercellular communications which is highly concerned. EVs act as cell-to-cell messengers by carrying lipids, proteins, DNAs, mRNAs and non-coding RNAs, which are involved in several physiological and pathological processes. So far, the studies of EVs on the pathogenesis, treatment and diagnosis of NAFLD are very limited. However, we conclude that EVs play an important role in the NAFLD disease development from the previous studies. Here, we summarize the role of EVs in the pathogenesis of NAFLD and discuss the potential clinical applicatons of EVs as predictive biomarkers and theraoies.