Mus musculus

SMART-NAFLD : A Systems Medicine Approach to Early Detection and Prevention of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

The massive increase in obesity is leading to an alarming rise in non-alcoholic liver disease (NAFLD). This development will lead to a dramatic increase in liver diseases such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A particular challenge is that NAFLD-associated HCCs, for reasons still unknown, not only occur in association with advanced liver fibrosis/cirrhosis, ...

Forschungsnetzwerk zur Früherkennung und Prävention- LiSyM-Krebs

Ein Netzwerk von Klinikern, Wissenschaftlern und Datenmanagern hat sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, Methoden zu entwickeln, um Patienten mit einem hohen Risiko für ein Leberkarzinom frühzeitig, in Vorstadien der Tumorentwicklung, identifizieren zu können. Gemeinsam bilden sie das „Systemmedizinische Forschungsnetzwerk zur Früherkennung und Prävention von Leberkrebs“, LiSym-Krebs, das vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung ...

C-TIP-HCC- Mechanism-based Multiscale Model to Dissect the Tipping Point from Liver Cirrhosis to Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The ultimate goal of the C-TIP-HCC is a „mechanistic multiscale model to describe dynamic changes in regenerative nodes across a tipping point (TIP) towards development in patients with cirrhosis to facilitate early monitoring and intervention“ and facilitate intervention“. To achieve this, we will conduct in-depth studies on cirrhotic regenerative nodes.

DEEP-HCC - Detailed Analysis of the Spatial Organization of the Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

This comprises the whole LiSyM network

In chronic diseases, at some point the liver can suddenly stop functioning. This is called acute-on-chronic liver failure, or ACLF. This is the leading cause of death in liver patients and is often provoked by the use of transcription or freely available drugs or alcohol abuse. For this condition we need an effective treatment quickly. LiSyM-Pillar III researches the factors that contribute significantly to ACLF. What exactly happens then? Are there any early signs that would enable ACLF to be ...

One of the tasks of the healthy liver is to store fat. Yet, at some stage, too much fat makes the liver sick. One critical time point occurs when a healthy fatty liver becomes inflamed and progresses to steatohepatitis, or NASH. LiSyM-Pillar I will identify what events lead to this transition. Does it occur in all parts of the liver? Which molecules indicate that it is taking place? Can the degeneration be stopped or undone - and if so, how?

In one in five people with NAFLD, the functioning liver cells, the hepatocytes, are replaced by connective tissue. Eventually this fibrosis becomes irreversible. In this state the liver is like a ‘scar that never heals’. Through it, the liver loses many of its vital functions. LiSyM-Pillar II wants to know more about which factors promote fibrosis and the conditions under which fibrosis becomes irreversible How can fibrosis be diagnosed as early as possible? Researchers in the pillar are also ...

Dr. Nachiket Vartak (TU University, Dortmund) investigates the role of a particular protein - the GTPase Rab18 - in initiating NAFLD. He tries to influence Rab18 pharmacologically so that NAFLD is not initiated. Vartak also analyzes how bile acids leave the liver. He hopes to find ways to improve the flow of bile in a liver with dysfunctional bile flow.

Dr. Madlen Matz-Soja (University of Leipzig) investigates the importance of a control mechanism - the hedgehog signaling pathway - for fatty liver disease. She has shown that the signaling pathway directs how liver cells in NAFLD accumulate fat. Hedgehog also affects sex hormones in the liver. Therefore, Matz-Soya hopes to clarify why women and men suffer from cirrhosis and liver cancer with varying degrees of frequency.

The liver comprises the body´s largest pool of macrophages constituting approximately 80 % of all sessile tissue macrophages of the body. After liver damage monocyte-derived macrophages are recruited into the liver and were here affected by a micro milieu which is considerably influenced by hepatocytes. Up to now the complex network that determines the differentiation and function of liver macrophages and the impact of the intercellular communication between macrophages and the other parenchymal ...

In the experimental paradigm of CCl4 intoxication of mice, hepatocytes around the central vein (located in the center of an idealized hexagonal liver lobule) are dying and are subsequently replaced by new hepatocytes, largely through activation of proliferation in the remaining hepatocytes.

Alignment of daughter hepatocytes along the orientation of the closest sinusoid, a process which is named hepatocyte-sinusoid alignment (HSA), was proposed by Höhme et al. (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0909374107) ...

not yet calibrated, not yet reduced

Model for the interaction of Wnt and Hh as published in Kolbe et al.: Mutual Zonated Interactions of Wnt and Hh Signaling Are Orchestrating the Metabolism of the Adult Liver in Mice and Human, Cell Reports, 29,4553,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.11.104

For the spatio-temporal dynamics of bile transport, bile canalicular dilation, mechanical stimulation and transduction of YAP signaling during liver regeneration see the open access publication and its appendix: Meyer et al. (2020) Bile canaliculi remodeling activates YAP via the actin cytoskeleton during liver regeneration. Molecular Systems Biology 16:e8985. https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.20198985

The model format is MorpheusML that can readily be loaded and run in the free and open source software ...