Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) affects 30% of the population world wide, touching close to 8 million Canadians. MASLD represents a spectrum of disease severity spanning from simple accumulation of fat in the liver to liver inflammation which leads to an increased risk of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. MASLD is defined as fat buildup in the liver with at least one of five cardiometabolic risk factors (obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension, hypertriglyceridaemia or hypercholesterolaemia), and an average daily alcohol intake (<20 g for females; <30 g for males). In addition, the presence of MASLD leads to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and other metabolic consequences, defining MASLD as a multisystem disease. Recent interest has emerged in exploring the liver-brain axis in MASLD, since patients with MASLD have been diagnosed with cognitive problems. The reasons why brain health is impacted lie within the causes and consequences of MASLD, including low-grade inflammation, altered metabolism of lipids, changes in gut microbiota and insulin resistance. This international symposium will focus on the liver-brain axis in MASLD. We propose to integrate this international scientific symposium within the International Society of Hepatic Encephalopathy and Nitrogen Metabolism (ISHEN) to be held in Quebec, Canada (organized by Dr. Rose). The goal is to continue to talk about this major health issue and develop and strengthen collaborations between international and Canadian experts in the field of liver-brain axis. This symposium will reveal new results and data in the field and new developments on how the brain is affected during MASLD will be discussed and new ideas on how to improve the management and treat patients suffering from MASLD will be discovered. In the end, a consensus report will be written disseminating and highlighting the best of the symposium and identify future areas of research.