Clinical, Translational and Basic Research on Liver Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Personalized medicine is one of the new approaches to liver disease management. Liver research over the last decade has shown that response to therapy is variable, hence personalization and identifying factors that will enhance the predictive utility of targeted therapy are critical. There are assays such as the lymphocyte toxicity assay which can identify the hypersensitivity of each individual to a drug of use or misuse. The knowledge of the drug adverse events can save lives and can reduce health care costs dramatically. Biomarkers can help identify diseases of the liver. Cancer immunotherapy, which aims to control the immune system to eradicate cancer, needs to be personalized, because anticancer immune responses can be inhibited in various ways from patient to patient. Cancer immunotherapy includes immune checkpoint inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies, as well as cell therapy, immunogene therapy, and vaccines. Combinations of programmed apoptosis protein 1 (PD-1)/ligand 1 (PD-L1) chemotherapy and radiation therapy, are being explored. Biomarkers are important for predicting the response to immunotherapy in hepatocellular and cholangio- carcinomas. Molecular diagnostics and immunohistochemistry are important technologies for guiding treatment in diseases of the liver.

The scope of the present Topic is to present the need for

• The identification of molecular targets as predictive biomarkers is important for matched targeted therapy in alcoholic and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

• Constant evaluation of assays to predict and diagnose drug-induced liver injury (DILI).

• Integration of viral-induced liver diseases as a possible co-morbidity in alcohol and drugs of misuse liver disease laboratory diagnosis.

• Validation of biomarkers to predict response to combination therapies, including those that characterize the tumor microenvironment and targeted signaling pathways in carcinoma of the liver.

Prof. Dr. Neuman Manuela
Prof. Dr. Stephen Malnick
Topic Editors