Table 2.

Identified variations in genetic and metabolic makeup contributing to NAFLD

	Caucasian	Hispanic	Afro-Carribbean	East Asian	South Asian
Metabolic predisposition	Insulin resistance found to be associated with NAFLD diagnosis	Insulin resistance found to be associated with NAFLD diagnosis Higher BMI when compared with other ethnic groups90	High levels of serum HDL and low levels of triglycerides46 Less visceral fat than Caucasian patients47	Higher body fat percentage for any given BMI50	More likely to develop dyslipidemia than Caucasians68,69 Insulin resistance high when compared with Caucasian controls78 Patients younger and have lower prevalence of diabetes70,73 Overall lower body weight in patients70 Diabetes mellitus not strongly associated with NAFLD
Findings on histopathology	*	Highest grade of hepatocyte ballooning and Mallory bodies on pathology44	Lesser degree of steatosis and inflammation seen on pathology44	Higher degree of hepatocyte ballooning and inflammation on pathology44	Histopathological profile similar to Caucasian patients78
Genetic predisposition	PNPLA3, GCKR, PPP1R3B, NCAN104	Heritable missense variants in PNPLA3 and GCKR15 Highest PNPLA3 levels out of all ethnic groups16,17,94 Associations in children on chr 8, 14, 20 with NAFLD93 Farnesyl-diphosphate farnesyltransferase 195	Over-expression of CYP3A, IGF2, acyl-CoA, ACSL4, FAH, FUT4, EPB41L1, GSTM4, GSTM5 when compared with Caucasian controls40 Heritable missense variants in PNPLA3 and GCKR15	APOC3 gene polymorphisms60	PNPLA3 polymorphisms71

Note:

^*Histopathology for Caucasian ethnicity was not usually defined as it was used as baseline or controls for comparison with other ethnicities.

Abbreviations: APOC3, apolipoprotein C3; BMI, body mass index; GCKR, glucokinase regulator gene; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; NCAN, neurocan; PNPLA3, Patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3; PP1R3B, protein phosphatase 1, regulatory subunit 3B; chr, chromosome; NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.