Mitigation of Portal Fibrosis and Cholestatic Liver Disease in ANKS6-deficient Livers by Macrophage Depletion
April 7, 2022
Rannar Airik, PhD, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Developmental Biology, is the senior author of a new study published in February 2022 in The FASEB Journal on "Mitigation of Portal Fibrosis and Cholestatic Liver Disease in ANKS6-deficient Livers by Macrophage Depletion."
This study, dealing with congenital hepatic fibrosis, focused on the role of a novel ANKS6 gene mutation discovered in an infant exhibiting liver fibrosis and biliary abnormalities. Molecular studies of this mutation in a knockout model showed that livers with ANKS6 deletions were abundant with inflammatory macrophages that led to bile duct destruction and promoted biliary fibrosis. A therapeutic possibility for congenital hepatic fibrosis may lie with blocking macrophage recruitment to limit deleterious macrophage activity in the liver.
Study References
Airik M, McCourt B, Ozturk TT, Huynh AB, Zhang X, Tometich JT, Topaloglu R, Ozen H, Orhan D, Nejak-Bowen K, Monga SP, Hand TW, Ozaltin F, Airik R. Mitigation of Portal Fibrosis and Cholestatic Liver Disease in ANKS6-Deficient Livers by Macrophage Depletion. FASEB J. 2022 Feb; 36(2): e22.
Learn more about Dr. Airik and the Airik Laboratory in the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at UPMC Children’s.
