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LIVER REGENERATION IN 2018

Updates on hepatic homeostasis and the many tiers of hepatobiliary repair

  • Year in Review
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From Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

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Deciphering the complex circuitry of liver homeostasis and repair is required to improve regenerative therapies for hepatic diseases. Studies in 2018 have identified subsets of hepatic cells that have unique reparative abilities and clarified the role of biomechanical forces and hepatobiliary reprogramming as sustainable modes of tissue repair.

Key advances

  • Rare and random TERTHigh hepatocytes in all metabolic zones of a hepatic lobule represent a distributed model of hepatic homeostasis and regeneration2.

  • Mechanosensing of altered blood flow by sinusoidal endothelial cells regulates the release of angiocrine factors that influence hepatocyte proliferation during development and regeneration5.

  • Hepatocytes and cholangiocytes can transdifferentiate into each other to aid in hepatobiliary repair when an injury is chronic or excessive and prohibits survival and proliferation of the default cell type8,9,10.

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Fig. 1: Hepatic homeostasis and hepatobiliary repair.

References

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Acknowledgements

The author’s work is supported by the NIH grants 1R01DK62277, 1R01DK116993 and R01CA204586, and the Endowed Chair for Experimental Pathology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Experimental Pathology, Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Satdarshan P. Monga

  2. Pittsburgh Liver Research Center, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Satdarshan P. Monga

  3. Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Satdarshan P. Monga

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Correspondence to Satdarshan P. Monga.

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Monga, S.P. Updates on hepatic homeostasis and the many tiers of hepatobiliary repair. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 16, 84–86 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-018-0090-x

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