Emerging Roles of Impaired Autophagy in Fatty Liver Disease and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Figure 4

Schematic model represents the role of functional and impaired autophagy in the modulation of NAFLD, AFLD, and HCC. Functional autophagy can reverse hepatic steatosis, NASH, or hepatitis by the degradation of lipid droplets in the initial stages of NAFLD and acute AFLD. When a functional autophagic process is unable to process the overloaded-lipid content in the liver, particularly in chronic NAFLD and AFLD, defective autophagy exists. Due to defective/impaired autophagic function (increasing expression of p62, LC3, Rab7, and Glypican-3), NASH progresses to fibrosis/cirrhosis and subsequently to HCC.