Yang M, Olaoba OT, Chinwo SC, LeVasseur H, Zhou B, Kimchi ET, Staveley-O’Carroll KF, Li G. Roles of hepatic immunity in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Cellular and molecular mechanisms and clinical trials. World J Gastroenterol 2026; 32(14): 117396 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i14.117396]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Guangfu Li, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030, United States. gli@uchc.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Apr 14, 2026 (publication date) through Apr 3, 2026
Times Cited of This Article
Times Cited (0)
Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Gastroenterology
ISSN
1007-9327
Publisher of This Article
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
Share the Article
Yang M, Olaoba OT, Chinwo SC, LeVasseur H, Zhou B, Kimchi ET, Staveley-O’Carroll KF, Li G. Roles of hepatic immunity in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Cellular and molecular mechanisms and clinical trials. World J Gastroenterol 2026; 32(14): 117396 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i14.117396]
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2026; 32(14): 117396 Published online Apr 14, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i14.117396
Roles of hepatic immunity in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: Cellular and molecular mechanisms and clinical trials
Ming Yang, Olamide T Olaoba, Stephanie C Chinwo, Hannah LeVasseur, Beiyan Zhou, Eric T Kimchi, Kevin F Staveley-O’Carroll, Guangfu Li
Ming Yang, Olamide T Olaoba, Stephanie C Chinwo, Eric T Kimchi, Kevin F Staveley-O’Carroll, Guangfu Li, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT 06030, United States
Olamide T Olaoba, Hannah LeVasseur, Beiyan Zhou, Guangfu Li, Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT 06030, United States
Co-first authors: Ming Yang and Olamide T Olaoba.
Co-corresponding authors: Kevin F Staveley-O’Carroll and Guangfu Li.
Author contributions: Yang M, Olaoba OT and Li G devised the outline; Yang M, Olaoba OT, Chinwo SC, LeVasseur H, Zhou B conducted the literature review; Zhou B, Kimchi ET, Staveley-O’Carroll KF, and Li G critically revised the paper; all authors read and approved the submitted manuscript.
Supported by the National Institutes of Health, No. R01DK130340, No. R01CA274959 and No. R01CA250536.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Corresponding author: Guangfu Li, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030, United States. gli@uchc.edu
Received: December 8, 2025 Revised: December 29, 2025 Accepted: January 27, 2026 Published online: April 14, 2026 Processing time: 118 Days and 15.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) encompasses a broad spectrum of pathology ranging from hepatic steatosis to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Effective treatments for MASLD remain limited. Hepatic innate immune cells play an essential role in maintaining liver physiological homeostasis and contributing to MASLD pathogenesis and progression by interacting with liver parenchymal cells and adaptive immune cells in the progression of MASLD and MASH. Treatments targeting innate immune cell manipulation and metabolic modulation, such as fibroblast growth factor 21 analogues, farnesoid X receptor agonists, and chemokine receptor antagonists, can provide therapeutic strategies for MASLD.
