Taylor, AE; Carey, AN; Kudira, R; Lages, CS; Shi, T; Lam, S; Karns, R; Simmons, J; Shanmukhappa, K; Almanan, M; Chougnet, CA; Miethke, AG. Interleukin 2 Promotes Hepatic Regulatory T Cell Responses and Protects From Biliary Fibrosis in Murine Sclerosing Cholangitis. Hepatology. 2018; 68(5):1905-1921.
Drs. Amy Taylor and Alexander Miethke used the multidrug resistance protein 2 (Mdr2) deficient mouse model that mimics primary sclerosing cholangitis disease to study the role T lymphocytes in pathogenesis of biliary injury and fibrosis. They demonstrated that hepatic T lymphocytes drive biliary injury and fibrosis in murine sclerosing cholangitis. This study suggests that suppressing T lymphocytes by activating regulatory T cells through the treatment of interleukin-2 (IL-2) could be considered as at treatment for fibrosing cholangiopathies
Mouzaki, M; Trout, AT; Arce-Clachar, AC; Bramlage, K; Kuhnell, P; Dillman, JR; Xanthakos, S. Assessment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Progression in Children Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The Journal of Pediatrics. 2018; 201:86-92.
This retrospective cohort study investigated the use of magnetic resonance imaging-proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF)/magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) as noninvasive imaging markers of liver disease severity in children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The study shows that solely monitoring of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels may provide false reassurance to clinicians and that the addition of MRI-PDFF/MRE imaging complements the monitoring of NAFLD disease severity and/or progression.
Kumar, S; Rani, R; Karns, R; Gandhi, CR. Augmenter of liver regeneration protein deficiency promotes hepatic steatosis by inducing oxidative stress and microRNA-540 expression. The FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. 2019; 33(3):3825-3840.
Dr. Gandhi and colleagues demonstrated that depletion of augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) protein found in hepatocytes resulted in an upregulation of a novel microRNA (miR-540), increased oxidative stress, and the promotion of steatosis. This study suggestions that increasing ALR expression may serve as an effective process to mitigate steatosis and the progression of liver disease.
Waddell, A; Vallance, JE; Hummel, A; Alenghat, T; Rosen, MJ. IL-33 Induces Murine Intestinal Goblet Cell Differentiation Indirectly via Innate Lymphoid Cell IL-13 Secretion. Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950). 2019; 202(2):598-607.
Dr. Michael Rosen’s research team developed an enteroid-immune cell coculture model system to determine the mechanisms involved in intestinal goblet cell differentiation. They demonstrated that interleukin-33 (IL-33) induces goblet cell differentiation indirectly through group 2 innate lymphoid cell production of interleukin-13 (IL-13). This enteroid-immune cell coculture system can be used to assess roles of other immune cells in epithelial cell functions.
Vitale, DS; Hornung, L; Lin, TK; Nathan, JD; Prasad, S; Thompson, T; Abu-El-Haija, M. Blood Urea Nitrogen Elevation Is a Marker for Pediatric Severe Acute Pancreatitis. Pancreas. 2019; 48(3):363-366.
This prospective study of 118 pediatric patients aimed to evaluate early predictors of developing severe acute pancreatitis during their first episode of pancreatitis. The study generated a predictive model showing that elevated blood urea nitrogen levels are a significant predictor of severe acute pancreatitis.