A new study from the Weizmann Institute of Science, published in Nature Medicine, has found new subsets of cells and signals from the gut microbiome and the diseased liver that contribute to acute liver failure.
The researchers, who work in the labs of Profs. Eran Elinav and Ido Amit in the Immunology Department, hope that this and other research findings will contribute to new treatments for the condition.
Acute liver failure progresses rapidly and leads to death in 80% of cases when an emergency transplant is not performed. The leading cause of acute liver failure in the developed world is acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, overdose.
Researchers found new cell subsets that were activated as acute liver failure progressed in mice. They also found that signals from the gut microbiome were regulating the activation. Administering wide-spectrum antibiotics alleviated some of the symptoms of the liver failure in mice and inducing liver failure in mice with no gut microbiome caused less severe liver failure.
The researchers then analyzed human patients and found similarities between human and mouse liver failure. This leads researchers to believe that the findings in mice could be translated to a human treatment.
“Such knowledge could lead to a new treatment option for this cureless and devastating disorder,” said Elinav.
The research was led by Dr. Aleksandra Kolodziejczyk, a postdoctoral fellow in Elinav’s lab. in collaboration with Dr. Amir Shlomai of the Liver Institute, Rabin Medical Center. and other scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science.