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Stopping stellate cell communication reverses fibrosis

  1. Sarah Crunkhorn
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Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is an advanced form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease associated with damaging inflammation and progressive fibrosis driven by the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Despite fibrosis representing the strongest predictor of mortality in NASH, there are currently no approved antifibrotic therapies. Writing in Science Translational Medicine, Wang et al. identify HSC autocrine signalling as a driver of NASH fibrosis. Furthermore, inhibiting the HSC autocrine interaction of neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 3 (NTRK3) with its ligand neurotrophin 3 (NTF3) reduced fibrosis in a mouse model of advanced NASH.

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Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 22, 180 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41573-023-00016-w

References

  1. Wang, S. et al. An autocrine signaling circuit in hepatic stellate cells underlies advanced fibrosis in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Sci. Transl Med. 15, eadd3949 (2023)

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