Liver fibrosis in alcoholic liver disease.

Excessive alcohol consumption causes a wide spectrum of liver disease, ranging from simple steatosis to severe forms of liver injury such as steatohepatitis, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. Moreover, alcohol consumption also accelerates liver fibrosis in patients with other types of liver diseases such as viral hepatitis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Virtually all clinical complications of alcoholic liver disease occur in patients with established fibrosis and cirrhosis, thus making fibrosis a key parameter for treatment and prognosis of patients.

Trends in the management and burden of alcoholic liver disease.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the most prevalent cause of advanced liver disease in Europe and is the leading cause of death among adults with excessive alcohol consumption. There is a dose-response relationship between the amount of alcohol consumed and the risk of ALD. The relative risk of cirrhosis increases in subjects who consume more than 25 g/day.

Systemic inflammatory response and serum lipopolysaccharide levels predict multiple organ failure and death in alcoholic hepatitis.

Unlabelled: Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) frequently progresses to multiple organ failure (MOF) and death. However, the driving factors are largely unknown. At admission, patients with AH often show criteria of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) even in the absence of an infection.

Progenitor cell expansion and impaired hepatocyte regeneration in explanted livers from alcoholic hepatitis.

Objective: In alcoholic hepatitis (AH), development of targeted therapies is crucial and requires improved knowledge of cellular and molecular drivers in liver dysfunction. The unique opportunity of using explanted livers from patients with AH having undergone salvage liver transplantation allowed to perform more in-depth molecular translational studies.

Design: We studied liver explants from patients with AH submitted to salvage transplantation (n=16), from patients with alcoholic cirrhosis without AH (n=12) and fragments of normal livers (n=16).

Kinase analysis in alcoholic hepatitis identifies p90RSK as a potential mediator of liver fibrogenesis.

Objective: Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is often associated with advanced fibrosis, which negatively impacts survival. We aimed at identifying kinases deregulated in livers from patients with AH and advanced fibrosis in order to discover novel molecular targets.

Design: Extensive phosphoprotein analysis by reverse phase protein microarrays was performed in AH (n=12) and normal human livers (n=7).

SPARC (secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine) knockdown protects mice from acute liver injury by reducing vascular endothelial cell damage.

Secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) is involved in many biological process including liver fibrogenesis, but its role in acute liver damage is unknown. To examine the role of SPARC in acute liver injury, we used SPARC knock-out (SPARC(-/-)) mice. Two models of acute liver damage were used: concanavalin A (Con A) and the agonistic anti-CD95 antibody Jo2.

Alcoholic and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

This paper is based upon the "Charles Lieber Satellite Symposia" organized by Manuela G. Neuman at the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) Annual Meetings, 2013 and 2014. The present review includes pre-clinical, translational and clinical research that characterize alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

The biliary epithelium gives rise to liver progenitor cells.

Unlabelled: Severe liver diseases are characterized by expansion of liver progenitor cells (LPC), which correlates with disease severity. However, the origin and role of LPC in liver physiology and in hepatic injury remains a contentious topic. We found that ductular reaction cells in human cirrhotic livers express hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 homeobox B (HNF1β).

Alcoholic hepatitis: Prognosis and treatment.

Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is a type of acute-on-chronic liver failure and is the most severe form of alcoholic liver disease. AH occurs in patients with heavy alcohol abuse and underlying liver disease. In its severe form, AH carries a poor short-term prognosis.

Overexpression of angiopoietin-2 in rats and patients with liver fibrosis. Therapeutic consequences of its inhibition.

Background & Aims: Studies in experimental models of cirrhosis showed that anti-angiogenic treatments may be effective for the treatment of liver fibrosis. In this context, angiopoietins are potential therapeutic targets as they are involved in the maintenance and stabilization of newly formed blood vessels. In addition, angiopoietin-2 is expressed in fibrotic livers and its inhibition in tumours results in vessel stability.

A histologic scoring system for prognosis of patients with alcoholic hepatitis.

Background & Aims: There is no histologic classification system to determine prognoses of patients with alcoholic hepatitis (AH). We identified histologic features associated with disease severity and created a histologic scoring system to predict short-term (90-day) mortality.

Methods: We analyzed data from 121 patients admitted to the Liver Unit (Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain) from January 2000 to January 2008 with features of AH and developed a histologic scoring system to determine the risk of death using logistic regression.

CCL20 mediates lipopolysaccharide induced liver injury and is a potential driver of inflammation and fibrosis in alcoholic hepatitis.

Objective: Chemokines are known to play an important role in the pathophysiology of alcoholic hepatitis (AH), a form of acute-on-chronic liver injury frequently mediated by gut derived lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In our study, we hypothesise that chemokine CCL20, one of the most upregulated chemokines in patients with AH, is implicated in the pathogenesis of AH by mediating LPS induced liver injury.

Design: CCL20 gene expression and serum levels and their correlation with disease severity were assessed in patients with AH.

Deletion of SIRT1 from hepatocytes in mice disrupts lipin-1 signaling and aggravates alcoholic fatty liver.

Background & Aims: Sirtuin (SIRT1) is a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent protein deacetylase that regulates hepatic lipid metabolism by modifying histones and transcription factors. Ethanol exposure disrupts SIRT1 activity and contributes to alcoholic liver disease in rodents, but the exact pathogenic mechanism is not clear. We compared mice with liver-specific deletion of Sirt1 (Sirt1LKO) mice with their LOX littermates (controls).

Role of NADPH oxidases in liver fibrosis.

Significance: Hepatic fibrosis is the common pathophysiologic process resulting from chronic liver injury, characterized by the accumulation of an excessive extracellular matrix. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase (NOX) is a multicomponent enzyme complex that generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) in response to a wide range of stimuli.

Paracentesis is associated with reduced mortality in patients hospitalized with cirrhosis and ascites.

Background & Aims: Diagnostic paracentesis is recommended for patients with cirrhosis who are admitted to the hospital for ascites or encephalopathy. However, it is not known whether clinicians in the United States adhere to this recommendation; a relationship between paracentesis and clinical outcome has not been reported. We analyzed a U.

Alcoholic liver disease: pathogenesis, management, and novel targets for therapy.

Alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide, with much of its negative impact as the result of alcoholic liver disease (ALD). ALD is a broad term that encompasses a spectrum of phenotypes ranging from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, progressive fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The mechanisms underlying the development of these different disease stages are incompletely understood.

Semaphorin 7A contributes to TGF-β-mediated liver fibrogenesis.

Semaphorin7A (SEMA7A) is a membrane-anchored protein involved in immune and inflammatory responses, exerting an effect on pulmonary fibrosis. Thus, we aimed to investigate the role of SEMA7A in hepatic fibrosis. Liver injury was induced in vivo by carbon tetrachloride i.

Human and experimental evidence supporting a role for osteopontin in alcoholic hepatitis.

Unlabelled: We identified, in the transcriptome analysis of patients with alcoholic hepatitis (AH), osteopontin (OPN) as one of the most up-regulated genes. Here, we used a translational approach to investigate its pathogenic role. OPN hepatic gene expression was quantified in patients with AH and other liver diseases.

ASMase is required for chronic alcohol induced hepatic endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial cholesterol loading.

Background & Aims: The pathogenesis of alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD) is poorly understood. Here, we examined the role of acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase) in alcohol induced hepatic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, a key mechanism of ALD.

Methods: We examined ER stress, lipogenesis, hyperhomocysteinemia, mitochondrial cholesterol (mChol) trafficking and susceptibility to LPS and concanavalin-A in ASMase(-)(/-) mice fed alcohol.

Molecular interplay between Δ5/Δ6 desaturases and long-chain fatty acids in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Objective: The mechanisms underlying non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are not completely elucidated. In the current study we integrated gene expression profiling of liver biopsies from NASH patients with translational studies in mouse models of steatohepatitis and pharmacological interventions in isolated hepatocytes to identify new molecular targets in NASH.

Design And Results: Using oligonucleotide microarray analysis we identified a significant enrichment of genes involved in the multi-step catalysis of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, namely, Δ-5 desaturase (Δ5D) and Δ6D in NASH.