Adipokines in Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis: From Pathogenesis to Implications in Diagnosis and Therapy

Table 1

The role of different adipokines in NAFLD.

Cytokine	Experimental models	Clinical studies
Leptin	Proinflammatory	Not elevated in NAFLD/NASH
	HSCs activation	No association with histology
Adiponectin	Anti-inflammatory	Lower in NAFLD than controls
	Hepatoprotective	Inversely correlates with fibrosis
Resistin	Proinflammatory	Elevated in NASH
		Possible association with fibrosis
TNF-a	Proinflammatory	Elevated in NAFLD/NASH
	Lipogenic	Correlates with fibrosis
IL-6	Uncertain	Insufficient evidence
Visfatin	Uncertain	Insufficient evidence
RBP-4	Proinflammatory	Insufficient evidence

TNF-a: tumour necrosis factor-a; IL-6: interleukin-6; RBP-4: retinol-binding protein-4; HSCs: hepatic stellate cells; NAFLD: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; NASH: nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.