To simulate complex processes in the liver mathematically, the scientists chose three phenomena each they could transform in a model: The liver
regeneration after injury by cuts, the defense of the liver cells against infections and finally the further development of a fatty liver to liver
cancer. In a fatty liver (hepatic steatosis) larger accumulations of fat can be found which represent normally a benign phenomenon.
However, it can also trigger an inflammatory response that leads in the most likely cases to a liver of cirrhosis
(Pathological change of liver tissue) ending in liver cancer.
Goal was to interrupt this process and to find a point on which it would be possible to intervene. Prof. Gebhardt found this point in the so-called
Hedgehog signaling pathway. This pathway controls the embryonic cell growth. If the signal pathway is interrupted in the liver, the rhythm of the
cell processes changes resulting in a fatty liver. "It is a gearwheel that combines the rhythm of the work cell with steatosis and metabolism"
explains Gebhardt in a recent press release.
Source:
http://www.zv.uni-leipzig.de/service/presse/nachrichten.html?ifab_modus=detail&ifab_uid=a22d33b4a020150619115734&ifab_id=6095
-
font size
decrease font size
increase font size
Monday, 22 June 2015 08:13
Virtual Liver Network: target for fatty liver development identified Featured
As an interdisciplinary association of about 70 expert groups from all over Germany the Virtual Liver Network (VLN) has worked from 2010 to this year´s March. As part of the modeling of complex liver processes the research group of Prof. Dr. Rolf Gebhardt, Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Leipzig has identified a metabolism pathway which can be used to treat pathological fatty liver.
Dr. rer. nat.
Menschen für Tierrechte - Tierversuchsgegner Rheinland-Pfalz e.V.