Targeting Kupffer cells in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: Why and how?

Mechanisms for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) development are under investigation in an era of increased prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Previous findings have pointed to the role of adipose tissue, adipose tissue macrophages and their secretory products in the development of a chronic inflammatory status inducing insulin resistance and a higher risk of liver steatosis called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The activation of resident macrophages [Kupffer cells (KC)] and the recruitment of blood derived monocytes/macrophages into the diseased liver have now been identified as key elements for disease initiation and progression. Those cells could be activated through gut flora modifications and an altered gut barrier function but also through the internalization of toxic lipid compounds in adjacent hepatocytes or in KC themselves. Due to the role of activated KC in insulin resistance, fibrosis development and inflammation amplification, they became a target in clinical trials. A shift towards an anti-inflammatory KC phenotype through peroxisome proliferator activator-receptorδ agonists, an inhibition of macrophage recruitment through anti-C-C chemokine receptor 2 action and a specific blocking of internalization of toxic lipoxidation or glycation compounds into KC by galectin-3 receptor inhibitors are now under investigation in human NASH.