You may be aware of NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), but have you heard of MAFLD? Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease is a new concept in the understanding of fatty liver disease and it’s pathogenesis.

A consensus statement on this disease concept was published in the Journal of Hepatology in 2020.

For further information on the above paper, please click here.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD)

As previously mentioned, lifestyle changes have led to an increase in the number of people with diabetes and obesity, and the number of existing patients as well as potential patients has drawn attention to NAFLD.

As the understanding of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has improved, it has become clear that the definition of the disease as defined by the diagnostic criteria at the time does not fit the reality of the patient population. In response to this situation, the concept of MAFLD was introduced, and although NAFLD itself will continue to exist, there will be an accelerating need to develop drugs based on the causes and pathology of the disease, rather than lumping them together.

We have already started to develop a model for MAFLD and will keep you informed of any updates.

STAM^TM mice were originally developed as a mouse model for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis leading to liver cancer, with a background of late-onset type 2 diabetes and a pathology similar to human NAFLD. For more information on the STAM^TM mouse, please check here.