We aim to investigate the preventive and therapeutic effects of ghrelin on a rat NAFLD model and possible underlying mechanism. Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with high-fat diet for 8 weeks to induce NAFLD. A group of rats were also treated with ghrelin throughout the NAFLD induction. After 8 weeks, rats were sacrificed for liver injury measurements. Rats with NAFLD showed obvious histological changes including necrosis and inflammation foci, elevated serum enzyme (ALT and AST) levels, dysregulated hepatic lipid metabolism, increased formation of oxidative stress, and lipid peroxidation markers, up-regulated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and apoptotic cells in the liver. Treatment of ghrelin improved liver injury through counter-acting those events. The improvement of ghrelin was accompanied with a restoration of LKB1/AMPK and PI3 K/Akt pathways. Ghrelin treatment alone did not influence the healthy rat liver. In addition, "therapeutic" ghrelin administration (2 weeks) after the establishment of early NAFLD symptoms (4 weeks) in rats further proved the beneficial effects of ghrelin. In conclusion, administration of ghrelin could attenuate NAFLD-induced liver injury, oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis partly through the action of LKB1/AMPK and PI3 K/Akt pathways.

The results of this meta-analysis suggest that bpMRI has high diagnostic accuracy in the detection of PCa and maintains a high detection rate for clinically relevant PCa. However, owing to high heterogeneity among the included studies, caution is needed in applying the results of the meta-analysis.

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One of the most important molecules mediating the proliferation, growth, and metastasis of cancer cells is insulin-like growth factor (IGF), with its receptor IGF-1R. Here, we describe the potential of an IGF-1R monoclonal antibody, HX-1162, on liver cancer apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. We found that HX-1162 could induce the apoptosis of cultured liver cancer cells. Additionally, HX-1162 treatment inhibited the tumor growth after cancer cell grafting and enhanced the cell apoptosis inside the tumor tissue. We conclude that IGF-1R targeting therapy provides a new avenue toward treating liver cancer.