Publications by authors named "M Gunckel"

Despite the recent approval of new therapies, the prognosis for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains poor. There is a clinical need for new highly effective therapeutic options. Here, we present a combined application of BH3-mimetics as a potential new treatment option for HCC.

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Background: A rapid decline of liver stiffness (LS) was detected by non-invasive methods in patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection during treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAA).

Objective: To investigate the influence of inflammation on LS.

Methods: We prospectively examined LS by sonographic shear-wave elastography in 217 patients during DAA therapy from treatment initiation (BL) to 12 weeks after end of therapy (SVR12).

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Recently we identified galectin-3 (gal-3), which is secreted by colonic epithelial cells (CEC), to be a strong activator of colonic lamina propria fibroblasts (CLPF). Modulation of CLPF function may play a role during stricture and fistula formation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Therefore, we investigated further the expression of gal-3 and effects on CLPF.

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The loss of intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) function is a critical component in the initiation and perpetuation of chronic intestinal inflammation in the genetically susceptible host. We applied proteome analysis (PA) to characterize changes in the protein expression profile of primary IEC from patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Surgical specimens from 18 patients with active CD (N = 6), UC (N = 6), and colonic cancer (N = 6) were used to purify primary IEC from ileal and colonic tissues.

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Background: Recently, we demonstrated that freshly elutriated monocytes differentiate into macrophages with a phenotype similar to that of intestinal macrophages in a three-dimensional model of intestinal epithelial cells. Here we describe a more organotypic model to study cell interactions in the intestinal mucosa.

Methods: Primary intestinal fibroblasts and freshly elutriated blood monocytes (ratio 1:1) were embedded in collagen type I gels and cultured for 5 days.

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