Research

Hormonal

Th17 cells promote liver inflammation, fibrosis, and insulin resistance in NAFLD and obesity, primarily through IL-17 secretion which stimulates pro-inflammatory cytokine release and hepatic stellate cell activation.

High levels of Th17 cells and IL-17 are associated with worse insulin resistance and liver fibrosis in obesity and NAFLD. Reducing systemic inflammation through weight loss and metabolic control may lower Th17 activity, thereby improving insulin sensitivity and slowing liver disease progression.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Th1, Th17, and Tc cells have an aggravating effect... Th17 and Tc cells seem to induce more liver damage and fibrosis progression... IL-17 reduces hepatic, muscle and adipose tissue insulin sensitivity... Th17 cells have a clear fibrogenic effect
Mikhaïl A. Van Herck et al. · Frontiers in Immunology · 2019

Why this rating

Strong support from animal models and human observational studies showing increased Th17 in disease states and functional data linking IL-17 to insulin resistance.

Source

The Differential Roles of T Cells in Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Obesity

Mikhaïl A. Van Herck et al. · Frontiers in Immunology · 2019

DOI 10.3389/fimmu.2019.00082

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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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