Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common liver diseases worldwide and is often associated with aspects of metabolic syndrome. Despite its prevalence and the importance of early diagnosis, there is a lack of robustly validated biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of disease progression in response to a given treatment. In this Review, we provide an overview of the contribution of metabolomics and lipidomics in clinical studies to identify biomarkers associated with NAFLD and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In addition, we highlight the key metabolic pathways in NAFLD and NASH that have been identified by metabolomics and lipidomics approaches and could potentially be used as biomarkers for non-invasive diagnostic tests. Overall, the studies demonstrated alterations in amino acid metabolism and several aspects of lipid metabolism including circulating fatty acids, triglycerides, phospholipids and bile acids. Although we report several studies that identified potential biomarkers, few have been validated.
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