Improving the economics of NASH/NAFLD treatment through the use of systems biology

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We surveyed NASH therapies currently in development, and found a significant variety of targets and approaches. Evaluation and clinical testing of these targets is an expensive and time-consuming process. Systems biology approaches could enable the quantitative evaluation of the likely efficacy and safety of different targets. This motivated our review of recent systems biology studies that focus on the identification of targets and development of effective treatments for NASH. We discuss the potential broader use of genome-scale metabolic models and integrated networks in the validation of drug targets, which could facilitate more productive and efficient drug development decisions for the treatment of NASH.