Biliary tract disease articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  05 April 2024 | Open Access

  Targeting pathogenic CD8⁺ tissue-resident T cells with chimeric antigen receptor therapy in murine autoimmune cholangitis

  CD8 + T cells play an important role in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). In this study, the authors demonstrate that PD-1-expressing CD8+ liver-resident T cells are pathogenic in murine PBC and that targeting these cells using a chimaeric antigen receptor reduces disease severity.

  • Hao-Xian Zhu
  • , Shu-Han Yang
  •  & Zhe-Xiong Lian

• Article
  06 June 2023 | Open Access

  Colitis ameliorates cholestatic liver disease via suppression of bile acid synthesis

  The association between primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been known for decades, but mechanisms of gut-liver crosstalk are incompletely understood. Here, the authors show a colitis-triggered protective circuit suppressing cholestatic liver disease which encourages multi-organ treatment strategies for PSC.

  • Wenfang Gui
  • , Mikal Jacob Hole
  •  & Kai Markus Schneider

• Article
  07 January 2023 | Open Access

  In vivo detection of bile duct pre-cancer with endoscopic light scattering spectroscopy

  Diagnosis of bile duct cancer often occur in advanced stages, leading to poor survival. Here, the authors combine light scattering and diffuse reflectance spectroscopies in a minimally invasive endoscopic technique for directly assessing the malignant potential of the bile duct lining, and demonstrate 97% detection accuracy.

  • Douglas K. Pleskow
  • , Mandeep S. Sawhney
  •  & Lev T. Perelman

• Article
  30 August 2022 | Open Access

  Biliary NIK promotes ductular reaction and liver injury and fibrosis in mice

  Excessive expansion of cholangiocytes in the liver leads to ductular reaction and liver disease. Here, the authors show that genetic ablation, or pharmacological inhibition, of biliary NIK blocks ductular reaction, liver inflammation, and liver fibrosis in mice by modulating secretion of cholangiokines that mediate liver inflammation and fibrosis.

  • Zhiguo Zhang
  • , Xiao Zhong
  •  & Liangyou Rui

• Article
  11 January 2022 | Open Access

  Gut microbiota promotes cholesterol gallstone formation by modulating bile acid composition and biliary cholesterol secretion

  Metabolic conditions associated with alterations of the gut microbiome, such as obesity and diabetes, predispose to gallstone disease. Here the authors demonstrate that the gut microbiome, in particular the genus Desulfovibrionale, contribute to gallstone formation in mice.

  • Hai Hu
  • , Wentao Shao
  •  & Aihua Gu

• Article
  10 January 2022 | Open Access

  Maternal regulation of biliary disease in neonates via gut microbial metabolites

  The pathogenesis of biliary atresia remains poorly understood. Here, the authors report that maternal butyrate treatment alters the gut microbiome and glutamine/hypoxanthine metabolites similar to human subjects, and suppresses biliary atresia in newborn mice.

  • Jai Junbae Jee
  • , Li Yang
  •  & Jorge A. Bezerra

• Article
  11 November 2021 | Open Access

  Generation of functional ciliated cholangiocytes from human pluripotent stem cells

  Current protocols to generate cholangiocytes from human pluripotent cells produce immature cells. Here the authors identify retinoic acid, BMP, cAMP and Rho kinase pathways as regulators of cholangiocyte maturation, and generate ciliated cholangiocytes expressing high levels of CFTR that form ductal structures in vivo.

  • Mina Ogawa
  • , Jia-Xin Jiang
  •  & Shinichiro Ogawa

• Article
  22 October 2021 | Open Access

  A human multi-lineage hepatic organoid model for liver fibrosis

  Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD) is a genetic disorder which is associated with kidney and liver pathology, including liver fibrosis. Here the authors develop and characterize human liver organoids with a ARPKD mutation, and find that they show aspects of the pathology, including fibrosis.

  • Yuan Guan
  • , Annika Enejder
  •  & Gary Peltz

• Article
  24 February 2021 | Open Access

  Ensembled deep learning model outperforms human experts in diagnosing biliary atresia from sonographic gallbladder images

  It is still challenging to make accurate diagnosis of biliary atresia (BA) with sonographic gallbladder images particularly in rural areas without relevant expertise. Here, the authors develop a diagnostic deep learning model which favourable performance in comparison with human experts in multi-center external validation.

  • Wenying Zhou
  • , Yang Yang
  •  & Luyao Zhou

• Article
  23 January 2020 | Open Access

  Non-canonical Wnt signalling regulates scarring in biliary disease via the planar cell polarity receptors

  In fibrotic biliary disease, portal fibroblasts promote both biliary scarring and bile duct regeneration. Here, the authors report that the non-canonical Wnt-PCP signalling promotes bile duct scarring in mice, and inhibition of Wnt-ligands reduces the scarring without impairing regeneration.

  • D. H. Wilson
  • , E. J. Jarman
  •  & L. Boulter

• Article
  30 November 2018 | Open Access

  Genome-wide association meta-analysis yields 20 loci associated with gallstone disease

  Genome-wide association studies have so far identified eight risk loci for gallstone disease. Here, the authors perform meta-analysis in cohorts from Iceland and the UK which reveals further 21 common and low-frequency risk variants that highlight the role of bile acid homeostasis in gallstone disease.

  • Egil Ferkingstad
  • , Asmundur Oddsson
  •  & Kari Stefansson

• Article
  03 July 2018 | Open Access

  Postprandial FGF19-induced phosphorylation by Src is critical for FXR function in bile acid homeostasis

  FXR plays an important role in bile acid homeostasis by transcriptionally modulating several enterohepatic genes, including intestinal FGF19, that repress hepatic bile acid synthesis. Here the authors show that postprandial FGF19 regulates FXR transcriptional activity via its action on the tyrosine kinase Src, which phosphorylates FXR.

  • Sangwon Byun
  • , Dong-Hyun Kim
  •  & Jongsook Kim Kemper

• Article
  18 February 2016 | Open Access

  Mutations in the nuclear bile acid receptor FXR cause progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis

  Neonatal cholestasis is a result of elevated bile acid levels, and is associated with mutations in genes regulating bile acid homeostasis. Here the authors identify mutations in the bile acid sensing farnesoid X receptor in four individuals with neonatal cholestasis from two unrelated families.

  • Natalia Gomez-Ospina
  • , Carol J. Potter
  •  & David D. Moore

• Article
  29 September 2015 | Open Access

  Maternal bile acid transporter deficiency promotes neonatal demise

  The mechanisms underlying perinatal mortality due to intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy are not fully understood. Here, the authors show that absence of the nuclear receptor and bile acid regulator Nrli2 and the biliary transporter Abcb11 strongly reduces maternal serum bile acid levels, improving neonatal survival.

  • Yuanyuan Zhang
  • , Fei Li
  •  & John D. Schuetz