Prospects of marketed hypoglycemic drugs in treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the manifestation of metabolic syndrome in the liver and is closely associated with glucose and lipid metabolism disorders, and they interact as both cause and effect of each other, with insulin resistance as the common pathogenesis. About three quarters of patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus have NAFLD, and current guidelines recommend reducing metabolic risk factors and treating metabolic syndrome as the primary treatment goals for patients with NAFLD. Although there are no approved drugs for the treatment of NASH at present, the hypoglycemic drugs on the market can bring varying degrees of benefits to NAFLD patients while lowering blood glucose. This article reviews the prospects of three types of hypoglycemic drugs on the market (thiazolidinediones, GLP-1 receptor agonists, and SGLT-2 inhibitors) in the treatment of NAFLD.