Research
Hormonal
PPAR agonists (specifically pioglitazone) improve individual histological features of NASH (steatosis, ballooning, inflammation) and can improve fibrosis.
Pioglitazone, a PPAR agonist, improves liver inflammation and fat in NASH patients. It is taken orally (30-45 mg daily). A significant side effect is weight gain (~2.5 kg), which might be undesirable for obese patients. It can also improve fibrosis.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Pioglitazone... improved individual histological features of NASH (eg, steatosis, ballooning, lobular inflammation)... mild improvement in liver fibrosis
Why this rating
Based on 8 RCTs including pioglitazone.
Source
Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Agonists
Peter Y. W. Chan et al. · JBJS Reviews · 2024
DOI 10.2106/jbjs.rvw.23.00167
systematic_review · n=2597Cited 14×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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