Mechanism of Cellular Signaling, Dysfunction and Drug Effects on Liver Diseases
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 35282
Special Issue Editor
Interests: gut microbiome; liver disease; metagenomics; metabolomics; alcoholic liver disease; nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH); liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The etiologies of liver disease are variable, including viral hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, and alcoholic liver disease. Recently, metabolic-dysfunction-associated fatty liver has become the most common cause of liver disease in the world. In addition, the liver is closely associated with other major organs, such as the kidneys, heart, and brain. The pathophysiology of these complications is very complicated. Portal blood containing the gut microbiome and its products, such as endotoxin and bacterial products, flows into the liver. The liver acts to initially detoxify these products. In the so-called “leaky gut”, the increased intestinal permeability to bacteria and their products is an important pathogenetic factor in major complications in patients with liver diseases. Prolonged gut transit may induce intestinal bacterial overgrowth, a condition in which colonic bacteria translocate into the small gut. Pathological bacterial translocation (BT) is another factor contributing to the development of various complications. Bile acids (BAs) undergo extensive enterohepatic circulation and play vital roles in the so-called gut–liver axis. BT-induced inflammation prevents the synthesis of bile acids (BAs) in the liver through the inhibition of BA-synthesizing enzyme. A lower abundance of 7α-dehydroxylating gut bacteria leads to the decreased conversion of primary to secondary BAs. Decreases in total and secondary BAs may play an important role in gut dysbiosis, characterized by a proinflammatory and toxic gut microbiome inducing BT and endotoxemia. Selective intestinal decontamination by various antimicrobial drugs for the management of complications has a lengthy history. Lactobacillus GG decreasing endotoxemia is known to improve the microbiome, leading to beneficial changes in amino acid, vitamins, and secondary BA metabolism. In this Special Issue, we aim to explore important aspects of cellular signaling and cellular dysfunction in the pathophysiology and drug effects of various liver diseases. These approaches may help to shed further light on the future management of hepatology.
Prof. Dr. Hiroshi Fukui
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- viral hepatitis
- autoimmune liver diseases
- alcoholic liver diseaes
- metabolic-associated fatty liver
- liver cirrhosis
- hepatocellular carcinoma
- gut–liver axis
- leaky gut
- portal hypertension
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