Grant: Project Grant

An accumulation of fat in the liver can lead to inflammation, which can be very severe in some people, and can even lead to cirrhosis. This disease is called fatty liver disease. In recent years, researchers have identified type 2 diabetes as the largest risk factor to progress to a severe form of fatty liver disease. This is now considered by several experts as an overlooked complication of diabetes. Cirrhosis caused by fatty liver disease may affect as much as 10% of individuals with diabetes, which is 3 times more than individuals without diabetes. Still, too little is known about the factors in individuals with diabetes that put them at risk of progressing to a more severe fatty liver disease. By better understanding these factors, we would be able to better target people in whom screening for this disease would be necessary. Also, our team would like to know which factors could be treated early in order to prevent the progression of the disease. Our laboratory hypothesizes that the differences in insulin resistance and insulin secretion between individuals may explain why some of them have more severe liver disease than others. Also, we believe that the stress in the liver caused by the use of excess energy fuel (called oxidative stress), as well as the type of fuel used may be at the origin of this progression. Certain factors in individuals with diabetes could cause the body to burn too much "fuel" and/or of the wrong type. We want to identify these factors by measuring the type of insulin resistance in individuals with diabetes and to describe the type and quantity of nutrients that the liver use at different stages of liver disease. This will help individuals living with diabetes, because we have the hope to better understand this complication and be able to suggest treatments to prevent the progression to cirrhosis which may affect as much as 10% of individuals with diabetes.