Cholestatic Liver Diseases: From the Bench to Bedside

Dear Colleagues,

Significant progress in the understanding of the nature of chronic cholestatic liver diseases have been seen in the last few decades; nevertheless, their pathogenesis remains mysterious. Early diagnosis and the use of ursodeoxycholic acid have dramatically improved the prognosis of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), spurring a change to the disease name. On the other hand, almost half of PBC patients do not respond to classic therapy; in these cases, novel treatment options, such as obeticholic acid, should considered. Moreover, methods for the early diagnosis and effective treatment of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) are still lacking.

Cholestatic liver disorders are caused by genetic defects, mechanical aberrations, toxins, or dysregulations in the immune system. The complexity and diversity of the mechanisms behind cholestatic liver diseases may explain why effective treatment remains challenging.

Important novel treatment targets include nuclear receptors involved in bile acid (BA), homoeostasis-like farnesoid X-receptor- and G-protein-coupled receptors, fibroblast growth factor-19 and enterohepatic BA transporters.

Moreover, the use of a combination therapy that targets multiple different steps and pathways might be an appropriate strategy to combat cholestatic liver diseases. MiRNAs (short, single-stranded RNA molecules) are uniquely suited for this purpose as they are capable of targeting many mRNAs simultaneously.

This Special Issue aims to publish high-quality research papers as well as review articles on recent advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of PBC and PSC, to provide a clinical picture of these diseases as well as novel treatment modalities. Original unpublished papers that are not currently under review by other journals and peer-reviewed high-quality contributions from conferences are sought.

We invite practitioners and researchers in the areas of basic science and clinical hepatology to contribute to this Special Issue both with original research and review articles, with the aim of providing an overview of the currently available knowledge and new findings on cholestatic liver diseases.

Dr. Agnieszka Kempińska-Podhorodecka
Dr. Ewa Wunsch
Guest Editors

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• risk factors for the development of cholestatic liver disorders
• new insights into the pathogenesis of cholestatic liver diseases
• genetics in cholestatic liver diseases
• non-invasive assessment and prognostic markers of cholestatic liver diseases
• novel treatment options for cholestatic liver diseases