Publications by authors named "Julia Vallverdu"
Article Synopsis
- The study explores how adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) are linked to liver fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and assesses the impact of altering ATMs in a mouse model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
- Researchers analyzed adipose tissue and liver biopsies from 42 NAFLD patients, finding a correlation between increased pro-inflammatory ATMs and higher stages of liver fibrosis.
- Modulating ATMs through a specific treatment notably reduced inflammation and fibrosis progression in the experimental NASH model, suggesting a potential therapeutic approach for managing liver damage in NAFLD.
Article Synopsis
- Scientists are trying to understand how liver diseases get worse, leading to serious conditions like cirrhosis and liver failure.
- They studied liver samples from different stages of disease and made special protein networks to find out what happens in the liver as the disease progresses.
- They discovered that certain processes like inflammation and cell death become more active as liver disease worsens, especially when it reaches the severe stage called acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF).
Background And Aims: Ductular reaction (DR) expands in chronic liver diseases and correlates with disease severity. Besides its potential role in liver regeneration, DR plays a role in the wound-healing response of the liver, promoting periductular fibrosis and inflammatory cell recruitment. However, there is no information regarding its role in intrahepatic angiogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are nonparenchymal liver cells responsible for extracellular matrix homeostasis and are the main cells involved in the development of liver fibrosis following injury. The lack of reliable sources of HSCs has hence limited the development of complex in vitro systems to model liver diseases and toxicity. Here we describe a protocol to differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into hepatic stellate cells (iPSC-HSCs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic liver diseases are characterized by the expansion of ductular reaction (DR) cells and the expression of liver progenitor cell (LPC) markers. In alcoholic hepatitis (AH), the degree of DR expansion correlates with disease progression and short-term survival. However, little is known about the biological properties of DR cells, their impact on the pathogenesis of human liver disease, and their contribution to tissue repair.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of complex in vitro hepatic systems and artificial liver devices has been hampered by the lack of reliable sources for relevant cell types, such as hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Here we report efficient differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into HSC-like cells (iPSC-HSCs). iPSC-HSCs closely resemble primary human HSCs at the transcriptional, cellular, and functional levels and possess a gene expression profile intermediate between that of quiescent and activated HSCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: MicroRNA 155 (miR-155) is involved in immune and inflammatory diseases and is associated with liver fibrosis and steatohepatitis. However, the mechanisms involved in miR-155 regulation of liver injury are largely unknown. The role of miR-155 in acute liver injury was assessed in wild-type (WT), miR-155 , and miR-155 mice transplanted with WT bone marrow.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Acute-on-chronic liver injury is characterized by an important inflammatory response frequently associated with endotoxemia. In this context, acute-phase proteins such as Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) are released; however, little is known about their role in chronic liver disease. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of PTX3 in liver injury.
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