Metabolic and immune links between sarcopenia and liver disease.

Skeletal muscles perform important metabolic functions. Muscle mass wasting in sarcopenia is an urgent problem of modern medicine, the interest in which is related to its prognostic significance. The liver has numerous direct and indirect metabolic and immune connections with skeletal muscle and disruptions of these connections in liver disease are of clinical interest. A recent article by Liang et al emphasized potential biomarkers of sarcopenia in liver cirrhosis. Identification of biomarkers of sarcopenia in patients with cirrhosis has important diagnostic value. Common pathophysiologic mechanisms of sarcopenia and liver cirrhosis include disorders of protein and energy metabolism, disturbances in the structure of gut microbiota, inflammation and oxidative stress.