University of Freiburg - Institute of Physics

The incidence of this life-threatening acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is increasing, and early detection and cure are urgent clinical needs. Pillar III applies a Systems Medicine approach to identify the critical mechanisms of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and to foster liver regeneration and repair.

Data (breath tests scores, imaging data from MRE, histopathological characterization and proteomics data of liver biopsies) will be acquired from two different groups of patients to be used in computer-assisted diagnostic tools for early detection and comprehensive evaluation of altered liver functions.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. LiSyM-EMI looks into the transition from steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) as the disease-defining moment in NAFLD. A systems analysis of these early disease events will be performed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that trigger disease establishment.

Chronic liver diseases (CLD) progression leads to cirrhosis, often cancer, and ultimately to organ failure and death. Because of the complexity of this scenario, a Systems Medicine approach is chosen to develop strategies to better characterize progression and resolution of fibrosis. Pillar II aims to define key molecular mechanisms and structural changes in tissue architecture during the progression of CLD by visualizing and quantifying at a cellular level, tissue and organ scale.

This comprises the whole LiSyM network