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Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Governing Liver Homeostasis

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2024) | Viewed by 973

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Division of Pediatric Anesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
2. Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
3. Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
4. Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
5. Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Childrens Center, 1800 Orleans Street, Suite 6349D, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
Interests: drug-induced; immune-mediated liver injury; immunology; autoimmunity; sex differences; pediatric anesthesiology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The liver is central to various systemic functions involved in metabolism, storage of nutrients and detoxification. The liver produces and secretes bile acids, as well as acute phase reactants, regulates iron and cholesterol homeostasis, and detoxifies drugs. The liver is also as an important tool in the body’s immune response, and is home to various immune cells, including monocytes, macrophages, granulocytes, natural killer cells, and dendritic cells. The liver is vulnerable to multiple pathogenic factors, such as infections, drugs, alcohol (alcoholic liver disease, ALD), metabolism-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), autoimmune dysfunction, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and their complications. Thus, many mechanisms ensure homeostatic regulation of immune responses, resulting in immune tolerance in the majority of cases. Recent studies strongly suggest that extracellular factors (e.g. hormones, cytokines) as well as intrinsic molecular factors impact hepatic homeostasis. It is urgent to discover novel molecular and cellular mechanisms affecting liver homeostasis in order to support the development of new therapeutic targets that treat liver diseases. Our special issue aims to report the most recent molecular and cellular mechanisms governing Liver Homeostasis, and will be open to review and research articles that focus on, but not limited to characterization and roles of various liver molecular and cellular populations in the regulation of infectious, immune-mediated and metabolic liver diseases.

Dr. Dolores B. Njoku
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • liver
  • physiopathology
  • immune-mediated liver disease
  • metabolic liver disease
  • experimental cirrhosis
  • experimental hepatitis/steatosis

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

9 pages, 896 KiB  
Communication
Cholestatic HCV Cryoglobulinemia: A New Clinical and Pathological Entity before and after Direct-Acting Antiviral Therapies—A Case-Control Study
by Serena Ammendola, Sara Romeo, Filippo Cattazzo, Anna Mantovani, Donatella Ieluzzi, Veronica Paon, Martina Montagnana, Sara Pecori, Anna Tomezzoli, Andrea Dalbeni and David Sacerdoti
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(2), 784; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms25020784 - 08 Jan 2024
Viewed by 661
Abstract
Twenty-nine patients with HCV infection (HCV+) and mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC+) were retrospectively selected and matched for age and sex with 31 HCV+ MC− patients. Biomarkers of cholestasis (direct bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, and gamma-glutamyl transferase), HCV-RNA and genotype, and plasma cryoprecipitates were measured before [...] Read more.
Twenty-nine patients with HCV infection (HCV+) and mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC+) were retrospectively selected and matched for age and sex with 31 HCV+ MC− patients. Biomarkers of cholestasis (direct bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, and gamma-glutamyl transferase), HCV-RNA and genotype, and plasma cryoprecipitates were measured before and after virus eradication; liver histology and plasma cells (aggregation and distribution), observed blinded by two pathologists, were analyzed. Sixty participants (mean age: 56.5; range: 35–77, males: 50%) with HCV infection were enrolled. Cholestasis (≥2 pathologically increased cholestasis biomarkers) was significantly higher in the MC group (p = 0.02) and correlated with cryoglobulinemia (OR 6.52; p = 0.02). At liver histological assessment, plasma cells were significantly increased in the MC+ group (p = 0.004) and tended to form aggregates more than the control group (p = 0.05). At multivariate analysis with MC, age, HCV-RNA, HBV diabetes, and cirrhosis, cholestasis was only significantly correlated to MC (OR 8.30; p < 0.05). In 25% patients, MC persisted after virus eradication with new antiviral treatment. Our study identified for the first time an association between MC, cholestasis, and an increased number of intrahepatic plasma cells in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients before virus eradication. Future studies are required to understand how MC contributes to liver damage and how its persistence affects the patients’ follow-up after antiviral therapies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Governing Liver Homeostasis)
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