Cytokines are considered crucial players in inflammatory-associated disorders throughout the body.Fatty liver diseases such as alcoholic liver disease(ALD)and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)are commonly characterized by lipid accumulation and in a substantial subset of patients with inflammation in the liver.Amount of inflammation affects long-term outcome of liver disease including evolution of liver fibrosis,cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.Especially the pro-inflammatory cytokines Inter-leukin(IL)-1(α and β)and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)α play a central role in many stages of liver diseases mediating fundamental aspects of those diseases including acute phase protein synthesis,lipid metabolism,cholestasis and degree of fibrosis.These key cytokines released mainly by mononuclear cells affect all liver cell types and orchestrate the production of many other mediators relevant in chronic liver diseases.Inflammatory cytokines also regulate crucially the development of insulin resistance,a key component of NAFLD.Blocking these critical mediators of inflammation by specific antibodies,especially TNFα,has so far not been proven successful in alcoholic steatohepatitis,a cytokine-driven disorder.In summary,inflammatory cytokines are continuously present locally and systemically in patients with advanced fatty liver diseases,mediating and affecting the clinical phenotype and many features of these disorders.

Dietary factors and the associated lifestyle play a major role in the pathophysiology of many diseases. Several diets, especially a Western lifestyle with a high consumption of meat and carbohydrates and a low consumption of vegetables, have been linked to common diseases, such as metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis, inflammatory bowel diseases, and colon cancer. The gastrointestinal tract harbors a complex and yet mainly molecularly defined microbiota, which contains an enormous number of different species. Recent advances in sequencing technologies have allowed the characterization of the human microbiome and opened the possibility to study the effect of "environmental" factors on this microbiome. The most important environmental factor is probably "what we eat," and the initial studies have revealed fascinating results on the interaction of nutrients with our microbiota. Whereas short-term changes in dietary patterns may not have major influences, long-term diets can affect the microbiota in a substantial manner. This issue may potentially have major relevance for human gastrointestinal health and disease because our microbiota has features to regulate many immune and metabolic functions. Increasing our knowledge on the interaction between nutrients and microbiota may have tremendous consequences and result in a better understanding of diseases, even beyond the gastrointestinal tract, and finally lead to better preventive and therapeutic strategies.
Atherosclerosis ; Carbohydrates ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Diet ; Fibrinogen ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Life Style ; Meat ; Metagenome ; Vegetables