Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0015695 (fatty liver)
 13,941 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Spleen has been considered a neglected organ so far, even though is strictly linked to liver. The spleen plays an important role in the modulation of the immune system and in the maintenance of peripheral tolerance via the clearance of circulating apoptotic cells, the differentiation and activation of T and B cells and production of antibodies in the white pulp. Moreover, splenic macrophages are able to remove bacteria from the blood and protect from sepsis during systemic infections. We review the spleen function and its assessment in humans starting from the description of spleen diseases, ranging from the congenital asplenia to secondary hyposplenism. From the literature data it is clear that obesity in humans affects different compartments of immune system, even thought there are still few data available on the implicated mechamisms. The intent is to enable clinicians to evaluate the newly recognized role of metabolic and endocrine functions of the spleen with special emphasis to obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in the context of the available literature. Moreover, understanding the spleen function could be important to develop appropriate prevention strategies in order to counteract the pandemia of obesity. In this direction, we suggest spleen longitudinal diameter at ultrasonography, as simple, cheap and largely available tool, be used as new marker for assessing splenic function, in the context of the so-called liver-spleen axis.
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PMID:Liver-spleen axis: intersection between immunity, infections and metabolism. 2380 54

Hyposplenism is associated with autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, severe celiac disease, autoimmune thyroiditis, untreated HIV infection and chronic graft-versus-host disease. The aim of this study was to review the existing data on hyposplenism associated with celiac disease and Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis. Our research was based on a clinical case concerning a 41-year-old female who presented with asthenia, fatigue, dyspepsia and chronic diarrhea. The medical history revealed autoimmune Hashimoto's thyroiditis, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, chronic gastritis and thrombocytosis. Multiple investigations showed hyposplenism and complex autoimmune dysfunction with positive serum markers for celiac disease and type 1 autoimmune hepatitis along with minor symptomatology. The intestinal symptomatology of celiac disease is often hid by hypothyroidism-associated autoimmune thyroiditis. Asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic celiac disease associated with Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis is diagnosed by biomarkers. Hyposplenism in celiac disease can occur regardless of the disease stage, latent or symptomatic.
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PMID:Hyposplenism, Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroiditis and Overlap Syndrome (Celiac Disease and Autoimmune Hepatitis Type 1). 3256 69