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A protein modified to increase the amount of time it circulates in the bloodstream appears to reverse liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in rats, according to results of a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers.
The investigators say the findings, reported ahead of print in the March 3 early view edition of Hepatology, advance the search for a potential cure for the thousands of patients worldwide living with these incurable diseases. At present, there is little effective treatment and no cure other than liver transplantation, which carries its own risks and often fails.
“Our findings demonstrate that the damaging effects of liver cirrhosis in laboratory rats can be effectively treated, and perhaps even reversed, using a protein therapeutic that has been modified to enhance its activity through site-specific conjugation of a polymer that greatly enhances its residence time in the body,” says senior author Justin Hanes, Ph.D., director of the Center for Nanomedicine at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. “This approach has tremendous potential to help people with this devastating condition and may also be helpful to the millions of patients with other diseases where fibrosis plays an important role.”
Liver fibrosis and its more severe form, cirrhosis, are caused by scar tissue that forms in the liver that is usually induced by chronic alcohol abuse, infections and autoimmune diseases. The progressive stiffening of the liver, a hallmark of the disorders, occurs when a type of liver cell known as the hepatic stellate cell is “activated” and overproduces the stringy network of proteins called the extracellular matrix that binds cells together.
Being able to turn cirrhosis around, especially in its late stages, would be a great boon, says Seulki Lee, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Radiology and Radiological Science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “That’s because liver fibrosis and cirrhosis can be asymptomatic for decades,” Lee says. “Many patients only seek treatment when their disease becomes very advanced, at which point liver transplant is their only option.”
Read more of this fascinating article here…..http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/307427.php