Scientists from the Departments "Immunology" and "Toxicology" at the IfADo are investigating the role of the immune system in liver damage caused by chemicals and drugs. It is known that NK cells in the liver play an important role in both, the development and progression of liver disease caused by drugs or chemicals. However, the exact relationships have been unclear so far.

For their investigations, the researchers led by Prof. Carsten Watzl and Prof. Jan Hengstler used a human liver cell line (Huh7 cells) and brought them together with NK cells isolated from blood. The liver cells had previously been exposed to clinically relevant doses of liver-damaging drugs. It was shown that proteins had formed on the liver cells that can bind to activating sensors on NK cells. This enables these immune cells to bind to the liver cells, kill them and release additional regulatory proteins.

Further information:
Publication (open access):
Fasbender, F., Obholzer, M., Metzler, S., Stöber, R., Hengstler, J., Watzl, C. (2020). Enhanced activation of human NK cells by drug-exposed hepatocytes. Arch. Toxicol 94: 439-448.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-020-02668-8

Press release:
https://www.ifado.de/2020/03/05/leberzellen-nk-zellen/