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385 Publications visible to you, out of a total of 385

Abstract (Expand)

Caveolin-1 (CAV1) is a membrane protein associated with metabolism in various cell types. The transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) is a pro-fibrogenic cytokine in the liver, but its metabolic gene signatures remain unclear to date. We have previously shown that CAV1 alters TGF-beta signaling and blocks its pro-apoptotic function. Here, we defined TGF-beta-induced metabolic gene signatures in hepatocytes and assessed whether CAV1 abundance affects TGF-beta control of those metabolic genes. Microarray analyses of primary hepatocytes after TGF-beta stimulation (48 h) showed differential expression of 4224 genes, of which 721 are metabolic genes (adjusted p < 0.001). Functional annotation analysis revealed that TGF-beta mainly suppresses metabolic gene network, including genes involved in glutathione, cholesterol, fatty acid, and amino acid metabolism. TGF-beta also upregulated several genes related to glycan metabolism and ion transport. In contrast to TGF-beta effects, CAV1 knockdown triggered the upregulation of metabolic genes. Immortalized mouse hepatocytes (AML12 cells) were used to validate the gene changes induced by TGF-beta stimulation and CAV1 knockdown. Noteworthy, of the TGF-beta metabolic target genes, CAV1 modulated the expression of 228 (27%). In conclusion, we present several novel metabolic gene signatures of TGF-beta in hepatocytes and show that CAV1 abundance alters almost a third of these genes. These findings could enable a better understanding of TGF-beta function in normal and diseased liver especially where differential CAV1 level is implicated.

Authors: M. Han, Z. C. Nwosu, W. Pioronska, M. P. Ebert, S. Dooley, C. Meyer

Date Published: 22nd Feb 2020

Publication Type: Journal

Abstract (Expand)

The principle of dynamic liver function breath tests is founded on the administration of a (13)C-labeled drug and subsequent monitoring of (13)CO2 in the breath, quantified as time series delta over natural baseline (13)CO2 (DOB) liberated from the drug during hepatic CYP-dependent detoxification. One confounding factor limiting the diagnostic value of such tests is that only a fraction of the liberated (13)CO2 is immediately exhaled, while another fraction is taken up by body compartments from which it returns with delay to the plasma. The aims of this study were to establish a novel variant of the methacetin-based breath test LiMAx that allows to estimate and to eliminate the confounding effect of systemic (13)CO2 distribution on the DOB curve and thus enables a more reliable assessment of the hepatic detoxification capacity compared with the conventional LiMAx test. We designed a new test variant (named "2DOB") consisting of two consecutive phases. Phase 1 is initiated by the intravenous administration of (13)C-bicarbonate. Phase 2 starts about 30 min later with the intravenous administration of the (13)C-labelled test drug. Using compartment modelling, the resulting 2-phasic DOB curve yields the rate constants for the irreversible elimination and the reversible exchange of plasma (13)CO2 with body compartments (phase 1) and for the detoxification and exchange of the drug with body compartments (phase 2). We carried out the 2DOB test with the test drug (13)C-methacetin in 16 subjects with chronic liver pathologies and 22 normal subjects, who also underwent the conventional LiMAx test. Individual differences in the systemic CO2 kinetics can lead to deviations up to a factor of 2 in the maximum of DOB curves (coefficient of variation CV approximately 0.2) which, in particular, may hamper the discrimination between subjects with normal or mildly impaired detoxification capacities. The novel test revealed that a significant portion of the drug is not immediately metabolized, but transiently taken up into a storage compartment. Intriguingly, not only the hepatic detoxification rate but also the storage capacity of the drug, turned out to be indicative for a normal liver function. We thus used both parameters to define a scoring function which yielded an excellent disease classification (AUC = 0.95) and a high correlation with the MELD score (RSpearman = 0.92). The novel test variant 2DOB promises a significant improvement in the assessment of impaired hepatic detoxification capacity. The suitability of the test for the reliable characterization of the natural history of chronic liver diseases (fatty liver-fibrosis-cirrhosis) has to be assessed in further studies.

Authors: H. G. Holzhutter, T. Wuensch, R. Gajowski, N. Berndt, S. Bulik, D. Meierhofer, M. Stockmann

Date Published: 6th Feb 2020

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Caveolin-1 (CAV1) is a crucial regulator of lipid accumulation and metabolism. Previous studies have shown that global Cav1 deficiency affects lipid metabolism and hepatic steatosis. We aimed to analyze the consequences of hepatocyte-specific Cav1 knockout under healthy conditions and upon non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development. Male and female hepatocyte-specific Cav1 knockout (HepCAV1ko) mice were fed a methionine/choline (MCD) deficient diet for 4 weeks. MCD feeding caused severe hepatic steatosis and slight fibrosis. In addition, liver function parameters, i.e., ALT, AST, and GLDH, were elevated, while cholesterol and glucose level were reduced upon MCD feeding. These differences were not affected by hepatocyte-specific Cav1 knockout. Microarray analysis showed strong differences in gene expression profiles of livers from HepCAV1ko mice compared those of global Cav1 knockout animals. Pathway enrichment analysis identified that metabolic alterations were sex-dimorphically regulated by hepatocyte-specific CAV1. In male HepCAV1ko mice, metabolic pathways were suppressed in NAFLD, whereas in female knockout mice induced. Moreover, gender-specific transcription profiles were modulated in healthy animals. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that hepatocyte-specific Cav1 knockout significantly altered gene profiles, did not affect liver steatosis and fibrosis in NAFLD and that gender had severe impact on gene expression patterns in healthy and diseased hepatocyte-specific Cav1 knockout mice.

Authors: M. Han, W. Pioronska, S. Wang, Z. C. Nwosu, C. Sticht, S. Wang, Y. Gao, M. P. Ebert, S. Dooley, C. Meyer

Date Published: 6th Feb 2020

Publication Type: Journal

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: Paul Van Liedekerke, Johannes Neitsch, Tim Johann, Enrico Warmt, Ismael Gonzàlez-Valverde, Stefan Hoehme, Steffen Grosser, Josef Kaes, Dirk Drasdo

Date Published: 1st Feb 2020

Publication Type: Journal

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: Anne Dropmann, Steven Dooley, Bedair Dewidar, Seddik Hammad, Tatjana Dediulia, Julia Werle, Vanessa Hartwig, Shahrouz Ghafoory, Stefan Woelfl, Hanna Korhonen, Michel Janicot, Katja Wosikowski, Timo Itzel, Andreas Teufel, Detlef Schuppan, Ana Stojanovic, Adelheid Cerwenka, Stefanie Nittka, Albrecht Piiper, Timo Gaiser, Naiara Beraza, Malgorzata Milkiewicz, Piotr Milkiewicz, John G Brain, David E J Jones, Thomas S Weiss, Ulrich M Zanger, Matthias Ebert, Nadja M Meindl-Beinker

Date Published: 28th Jan 2020

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

OBJECTIVES: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a very aggressive tumor with a very low 5-year survival rate of 8%. The aims of this study are to determine reference values and physiologic confounders in healthy pancreas and to assess the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound time-harmonic elastography (THE) in the detection of PDAC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From March 2017 through May 2019, a total of 54 study participants with healthy pancreas (n = 33, CTR) or PDAC (n = 21) were prospectively enrolled. Repeatability of THE was tested in a CTR subgroup (n = 5) undergoing repeat measurement on 4 different days. Interobserver variability was analyzed in 10 healthy volunteers. Age-matched and sex-matched subgroups of CTR (n = 13) and PDAC (n = 13) were compared. In participants with histopathologically proven PDAC, measurements were performed separately in tumorous (PDAC-T) and nontumorous pancreatic tissue (PDAC-NT). Diagnostic performance of pancreatic THE was assessed by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. RESULTS: Time-harmonic elastography was highly repeatable (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.99), and interobserver agreement was excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.97). Shear wave speed (SWS) of PDAC-T (mean [95% confidence interval] in meters per second, 1.88 +/- 0.07 [1.84-1.92]) was higher than SWS of CTR (1.63 +/- 0.04 [1.60-1.66], P < 0.001) and PDAC-NT (1.59 +/- 0.03 [1.57-1.61], P < 0.001). The exploratory diagnostic performance of THE in separating PDAC-T was excellent (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 1.0). Tumorous pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma was distinguished from CTR and PDAC-NT with cutoff values of 1.73 m/s and 1.70 m/s, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Pancreatic ultrasound THE has high repeatability and provides excellent imaging contrast based on SWS, allowing detection of PDAC without overlap to nontumorous pancreatic tissue.

Authors: C. Burkhardt, H. Tzschatzsch, R. Schmuck, M. Bahra, C. Jurgensen, U. Pelzer, B. Hamm, J. Braun, I. Sack, S. R. Marticorena Garcia

Date Published: 28th Jan 2020

Publication Type: Journal

Abstract (Expand)

To address the issue of reproducibility in computational modeling we developed the concept of an executable simulation model (EXSIMO). An EXSIMO combines model, data and code with the execution environment to run the computational analysis in an automated manner using tools from software engineering. Key components are i) models, data and code for the computational analysis; ii) tests for models, data and code; and iii) an automation layer to run tests and execute the analysis. An EXSIMO combines version control, model, data, units, annotations, analysis, reports, execution environment, testing, continuous integration and release. We applied the concept to perform a replication study of a computational analysis of hepatic glucose metabolism in the liver. The corresponding EXSIMO is available from https://github.com/matthiaskoenig/exsimo.

Author: Matthias König

Date Published: 6th Jan 2020

Publication Type: Unpublished

Abstract (Expand)

Research software has become a central asset in academic research. It optimizes existing and enables new research methods, implements and embeds research knowledge, and constitutes an essential research product in itself. Research software must be sustainable in order to understand, replicate, reproduce, and build upon existing research or conduct new research effectively. In other words, software must be available, discoverable, usable, and adaptable to new needs, both now and in the future. Research software therefore requires an environment that supports sustainability. Hence, a change is needed in the way research software development and maintenance are currently motivated, incentivized, funded, structurally and infrastructurally supported, and legally treated. Failing to do so will threaten the quality and validity of research. In this paper, we identify challenges for research software sustainability in Germany and beyond, in terms of motivation, selection, research software engineering personnel, funding, infrastructure, and legal aspects. Besides researchers, we specifically address political and academic decision-makers to increase awareness of the importance and needs of sustainable research software practices. In particular, we recommend strategies and measures to create an environment for sustainable research software, with the ultimate goal to ensure that software-driven research is valid, reproducible and sustainable, and that software is recognized as a first class citizen in research.

Authors: Hartwig Anzt, Felix Bach, Stephan Druskat, Frank Löffler, Axel Loewe, Bernhard Y. Renard, Gunnar Seemann, Alexander Struck, Elke Achhammer, Piush Aggarwal, Franziska Appel, Michael Bader, Lutz Brusch, Christian Busse, Gerasimos Chourdakis, Piotr Wojciech Dabrowski, Peter Ebert, Bernd Flemisch, Sven Friedl, Bernadette Fritzsch, Maximilian D. Funk, Volker Gast, Florian Goth, Jean-Noël Grad, Sibylle Hermann, Florian Hohmann, Stephan Janosch, Dominik Kutra, Jan Linxweiler, Thilo Muth, Wolfgang Peters-Kottig, Fabian Rack, Fabian H.C. Raters, Stephan Rave, Guido Reina, Malte Reißig, Timo Ropinski, Joerg Schaarschmidt, Heidi Seibold, Jan P. Thiele, Benjamin Uekermann, Stefan Unger, Rudolf Weeber

Date Published: 2020

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

EXSIMO: EXecutable SImulation MOdel; Data, model and code for executable simulation model of hepatic glucose metabolism Reports: https://matthiaskoenig.github.io/exsimo/ Docker images:: https://hub.docker.com/r/matthiaskoenig/exsimo Github releases: https://github.com/matthiaskoenig/exsimo/releases

Author: Matthias König

Date Published: 2020

Publication Type: Misc

Abstract (Expand)

The standard of care for gastroesophageal cancer patients with hepatic or pulmonary metastases is best supportive care or palliative chemotherapy. Occasionally, patients can be selected for curative treatment instead. This study aimed to evaluate patients who underwent a resection of hepatic or pulmonary metastasis with curative intent. The Dutch national registry for histo- and cytopathology was used to identify these patients. Data were retrieved from the individual patient files. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed. Between 1991 and 2016, 32,057 patients received a gastrectomy or esophagectomy for gastroesophageal cancer in the Netherlands. Of these patients, 34 selected patients received a resection of hepatic metastasis (n = 19) or pulmonary metastasis (n = 15) in 21 different hospitals. Only 4 patients received neoadjuvant therapy before metastasectomy. The majority of patients had solitary, metachronous metastases. After metastasectomy, grade 3 (Clavien-Dindo) complications occurred in 7 patients and mortality in 1 patient. After resection of hepatic metastases, the median potential follow-up time was 54 months. Median overall survival (OS) was 28 months and the 1-, 3-, and 5- year OS was 84%, 41%, and 31%, respectively. After pulmonary metastases resection, the median potential follow-up time was 80 months. The median OS was not reached and the 1-, 3-, and 5- year OS was 67%, 53%, and 53%, respectively. In selected patients with gastroesophageal cancer with hepatic or pulmonary metastases, metastasectomy was performed with limited morbidity and mortality and offered a 5-year OS of 31-53%. Further prospective studies are required.

Authors: M. F. J. Seesing, A. van der Veen, H. J. F. Brenkman, H. B. A. C. Stockmann, G. A. P. Nieuwenhuijzen, C. Rosman, F. J. H. van den Wildenberg, M. I. van Berge Henegouwen, P. van Duijvendijk, B. P. L. Wijnhoven, J. H. M. B. Stoot, M. Lacle, J. P. Ruurda, R. van Hillegersberg

Date Published: 31st Dec 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: Nikolaus Berndt, Antje Egners, Guido Mastrobuoni, Olga Vvedenskaya, Athanassios Fragoulis, Aurélien Dugourd, Sascha Bulik, Matthias Pietzke, Chris Bielow, Rob van Gassel, Steven W. Olde Damink, Merve Erdem, Julio Saez-Rodriguez, Hermann-Georg Holzhütter, Stefan Kempa, Thorsten Cramer

Date Published: 10th Dec 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Early disease diagnosis is key to the effective treatment of diseases. Histopathological analysis of human biopsies is the gold standard to diagnose tissue alterations. However, this approach has low resolution and overlooks 3D (three-dimensional) structural changes resulting from functional alterations. Here, we applied multiphoton imaging, 3D digital reconstructions and computational simulations to generate spatially resolved geometrical and functional models of human liver tissue at different stages of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We identified a set of morphometric cellular and tissue parameters correlated with disease progression, and discover profound topological defects in the 3D bile canalicular (BC) network. Personalized biliary fluid dynamic simulations predicted an increased pericentral biliary pressure and micro-cholestasis, consistent with elevated cholestatic biomarkers in patients' sera. Our spatially resolved models of human liver tissue can contribute to high-definition medicine by identifying quantitative multiparametric cellular and tissue signatures to define disease progression and provide new insights into NAFLD pathophysiology.

Authors: F. Segovia-Miranda, H. Morales-Navarrete, M. Kucken, V. Moser, S. Seifert, U. Repnik, F. Rost, M. Brosch, A. Hendricks, S. Hinz, C. Rocken, D. Lutjohann, Y. Kalaidzidis, C. Schafmayer, L. Brusch, J. Hampe, M. Zerial

Date Published: 2nd Dec 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

The secretion of osmolytes into a lumen and thereby caused osmotic water inflow can drive fluid flows in organs without a mechanical pump. Such fluids include saliva, sweat, pancreatic juice and bile. The effects of elevated fluid pressure and the associated mechanical limitations of organ function remain largely unknown since fluid pressure is difficult to measure inside tiny secretory channels in vivo. We consider the pressure profile of the coupled osmolyte-flow problem in a secretory channel with a closed tip and an open outlet. Importantly, the entire lateral boundary acts as a dynamic fluid source, the strength of which self-organizes through feedback from the emergent pressure solution itself. We derive analytical solutions and compare them to numerical simulations of the problem in three-dimensional space. The theoretical results reveal a phase boundary in a four-dimensional parameter space separating the commonly considered regime with steady flow all along the channel, here termed “wet-tip” regime, from a “dry-tip” regime suffering ceased flow downstream from the closed tip. We propose a relation between the predicted phase boundary and the onset of cholestasis, a pathological liver condition with reduced bile outflow. The phase boundary also sets an intrinsic length scale for the channel which could act as a length sensor during organ growth.

Authors: Oleksandr Ostrenko, Jochen Hampe, Lutz Brusch

Date Published: 1st Dec 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Little is known about how liver fibrosis influences lobular zonation. To address this question, we used three mouse models of liver fibrosis, repeated CCl4 administration for 2, 6 and 12 months to induce pericentral damage, as well as bile duct ligation (21 days) and mdr2−/− mice to study periportal fibrosis. Analyses were performed by RNA-sequencing, immunostaining of zonated proteins and image analysis. RNA-sequencing demonstrated a significant enrichment of pericentral genes among genes downregulated by CCl4; vice versa, periportal genes were enriched among the upregulated genes. Immunostaining showed an almost complete loss of pericentral proteins, such as cytochrome P450 enzymes and glutamine synthetase, while periportal proteins, such as arginase 1 and CPS1 became expressed also in pericentral hepatocytes. This pattern of fibrosis-associated ‘periportalization’ was consistently observed in all three mouse models and led to complete resistance to hepatotoxic doses of acetaminophen (200 mg/kg). Characterization of the expression response identified the inflammatory pathways TGFβ, NFκB, TNFα, and transcription factors NFKb1, Stat1, Hif1a, Trp53, and Atf1 among those activated, while estrogen-associated pathways, Hnf4a and Hnf1a, were decreased. In conclusion, liver fibrosis leads to strong alterations of lobular zonation, where the pericentral region adopts periportal features. Beside adverse consequences, periportalization supports adaptation to repeated doses of hepatotoxic compounds.

Authors: Ahmed Ghallab, Maiju Myllys, Christian Holland, Ayham Zaza, Walaa Murad, Reham Hassan, Yasser A Ahmed, Tahany Abbas, Eman Abdelrahim, Kai Markus Schneider, Madlen Matz-Soja, Joerg Reinders, Rolf Gebhardt, Theresa Hildegard Wirtz, Maximilian Hatting, Dirk Drasdo, Julio Saez-Rodriguez, Christian Trautwein, Jan Hengstler

Date Published: 1st Dec 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

The Hedgehog (Hh) and Wnt/β-Catenin (Wnt) cascades are morphogen pathways whose pronounced influence on adult liver metabolism has been identified in recent years. How both pathways communicate and control liver metabolic functions are largely unknown. Detecting core components of Wnt and Hh signaling and mathematical modeling showed that both pathways in healthy liver act largely complementary to each other in the pericentral (Wnt) and the periportal zone (Hh) and communicate mainly by mutual repression. The Wnt/Hh module inversely controls the spatiotemporal operation of various liver metabolic pathways, as revealed by transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome analyses. Shifting the balance to Wnt (activation) or Hh (inhibition) causes pericentralization and periportalization of liver functions, respectively. Thus, homeostasis of the Wnt/Hh module is essential for maintaining proper liver metabolism and to avoid the development of certain metabolic diseases. With caution due to minor species-specific differences, these conclusions may hold for human liver as well.

Authors: Erik Kolbe, Susanne Aleithe, Christiane Rennert, Luise Spormann, Fritzi Ott, David Meierhofer, Robert Gajowski, Claus Stöpel, Stefan Hoehme, Michael Kücken, Lutz Brusch, Michael Seifert, Witigo von Schoenfels, Clemens Schafmayer, Mario Brosch, Ute Hofmann, Georg Damm, Daniel Seehofer, Jochen Hampe, Rolf Gebhardt, Madlen Matz-Soja

Date Published: 1st Dec 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

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