Table 1.

Key molecules involved in apoptosis during nonalcoholic steatohepatitis development.

Pathway	Mediator	Role
Extrinsic pathway	Death ligands (FasL, TNF-α and TRAIL)	Formation of death complexes and activation of initiator caspases
Intrinsic pathway
Mitochondrial	Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Mcl-1	Antiapoptotic
	Bax and Bak	Proapoptotic
	Bid, Bad, Bim, Noxa and PUMA	Proapoptotic (Bid mediates the crosstalk between the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways)
Lysosomal	Cathepsin B	Lysosomal protease that leads to mitochondrial dysfunction
Endoplasmic reticulum	PERK and IRE-1α	Induce CHOP and JNK, which activate Bax

CHOP: C/EBP homologous protein; FasL: Fas ligand; IRE-1α: Inositol-requiring enzyme 1α;

PUMA: p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis; TRAIL: TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand.