New Translational Challenges in Primary Biliary Cholangitis December 27, 2022 Although the clinical management of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) has been significantly improved in the last two decades, the current understanding of this multifactorial disease leaves several important nuances to be appreciated. PBC is classically regarded as an autoimmune disease resulting from an attack aimed at the cholangiocytes lining the small intrahepatic bile ducts. This autoimmune attack is triggered by a combinatorial interaction of genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors that leads to tolerance breakdown.

A Spotlight on Progress and Pitfalls in NAFLD/MAFLD Studies, 2022 July 12, 2022 Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the leading etiology of chronic hepatitis in the Western world and the only one for which global prevalence is steadily rising over time. In the last years, there have been substantial advances in our understanding of the epidemiology, the (non-invasive) diagnostic methods (including omics technologies), the natural history and the major risk factors for advanced liver disease in NAFLD, including genetic variants and the gut microbiota. Promising results have also arisen from drugs targeting metabolic pathways involved in the progression of liver damage. Recently, international experts also proposed redefining NAFLD as metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), but the impact of this name change on risk prediction of both hepatic and extra-hepatic outcomes is not known.

Integrative Omics Study for Clinical Liver Disease May 24, 2022 As a major cause of morbidity and mortality, clinical liver disease (CLD) has become a severely increasing global burden due to its occupancy of health resources for patient treatment. Many pharmacological approaches (such as targeted therapy) or surgical techniques (such as live transplantation and associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy [ALPPS]) may help to improve the prognosis of patients with CLD. However, the underlying pathological mechanism of disease and the rationality of these therapies have yet to be revealed. A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of the occurrence and development of CLD and the relevant therapeutic approaches will support efforts for better prevention and therapy from the perspective of precision medicine.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) March 24, 2021 Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), formerly known as Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), is recently proposed nomenclature with a new set of diagnostic criteria. With an estimated 2 billion people being affected around the world, MAFLD signifies a growing global health burden, and such health challenge is expected to grow in the coming decade and especially among demographics with higher rate of obesity. Currently, MAFLD is recognized to increase the risk for higher severity in patients with the COVID-19.

Call for Papers for Special Issue ‘Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the Liver’ June 3, 2020 The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is now a global pandemic, but a huge knowledge gap remains about the effects of this novel virus on the human body. Because angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the reported receptor for SARS-CoV-2, is highly expressed in almost the entire gastrointestinal tract, a significant portion of patients develop elevated liver enzyme levels and gastrointestinal symptoms, but the underlying pathophysiology is obscure.