Publications

Introduction: Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease is common, with fibrosis the major determinant of adverse outcomes. Population-based screening tools with high diagnostic accuracy for the staging of fibrosis are lacking. Methods: Three independent cohorts, 2 with both liver biopsy and liver s...

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• Liver Fibrosis

Purpose: Non-invasive biomarkers for diagnosing and prognosing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are urgently needed. Cirrhosis is present in 80-90% of HCC patients. Cirrhosis is characterized by deposition and cross-linking of collagens that have crucial roles in HCC initiation and progression. We eva...

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• Extracellular Matrix Research
• Fibrosis
• Liver Cancer
• Tumor Microenvironment

Background & aims: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) are phenotypically distinct autoimmune liver diseases that progress to cirrhosis and liver failure; however, their histological fibrosis distribution differs. We investigated...

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• Hepatic Diseases

There is an unmet need for high-quality liquid biomarkers that can safely and reproducibly predict the stage of fibrosis and the outcomes of chronic liver disease (CLD). The requirement for such markers has intensified because of the high global prevalence of diseases such as non-alcoholic fatty liv...

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• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD) are common causes of chronic liver disease. The overlap between ALD and NAFLD suggests the existence of metabolic steatohepatitis. Development of in vivo models that reflect various aspects of human steatohepatitis is essenti...

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• Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis
• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Is liver fibrosis just liver fibrosis? Or do the subtype of collagen, its spatial localization in the liver, its cell of origin, and the time point at which it is synthesized also matter? It is important, since the various collagen subtypes hold different informative values regarding reparative proc...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Therapies to reduce liver fibrosis and stimulate organ regeneration are urgently needed. We conducted a first-in-human, phase 1 dose-escalation trial of autologous macrophage therapy in nine adults with cirrhosis and a Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score of 10-16 (ISRCTN 10368050). Groups...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Following liver transplantation (LT), 10-30% of patients develop recurrent cirrhosis (RC). There is an urgent need for predictive non-invasive markers for improved monitoring of these patients. Here we studied extracellular matrix biomarkers as predictors of RC after LT. Forty-seven LT patients were...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Background and aims: Although combined antiretroviral treatment (cART) has improved overall survival of HIV infected patients, liver fibrosis and liver related-mortality still constitute major challenges in HIV positive patients. Collagen accumulates in the liver during fibrogenesis. Recent studies ...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

There is an unmet need for non-invasive biomarkers in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) that can diagnose advanced disease and identify patients suitable for clinical trials. The PRO-C3 collagen neo-epitope is a putative direct marker of fibrogenesis. We assessed the performance of PRO-C3 in...

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• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

OBJECTIVES: Remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) is a key event in different lung disorders, such as fibrosis and cancer. The most common cell type in the connective tissue is fibroblasts, which transdifferentiate into myofibroblasts upon activation. All myofibroblasts express α-SMA, which h...

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• Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Respiratory diseases

BACKGROUND AIMS: Remodelling of extracellular matrix is crucial in progressive liver fibrosis. Collagen type III desposition has been shown in acute decompensation. Extratracellular matrix is compiled of deposition of various components. The role of basement membrane collagen type IV in advanced cir...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Macrophages play a significant role in chronic liver disease as reflected by elevated soluble (s)CD163 and mannose receptor (sMR) levels and associated with liver disease severity and prognosis. Extracellular matrix remodelling associated with fibrogenesis may be affected by sys...

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• Hepatic Diseases

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Macrophages play a significant role in chronic liver disease as reflected by elevated soluble (s)CD163 and mannose receptor (sMR) levels and associated with liver disease severity and prognosis. Extracellular matrix remodelling associated with fibrogenesis may be affected by sys...

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• Hepatic Diseases

OBJECTIVE: There is a need for non-invasive biomarkers that can identify patients with progressive liver fibrosis and monitor response to anti-fibrotic therapy. An equally important need is identification of patients with spontaneous fibrosis regression, since they may not need treatment nor be incl...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

OBJECTIVE: There is a need for non-invasive biomarkers that can identify patients with progressive liver fibrosis and monitor response to anti-fibrotic therapy. An equally important need is identification of patients with spontaneous fibrosis regression, since they may not need treatment nor be incl...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Given the high global prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the need for relevant non-invasive biomarkers and algorithms to accurately stage disease severity is a critical unmet medical need. Identifying those with advanced fibrosis (≥F3) is the most crucial, a...

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• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

BACKGROUND: Primary sclerosing cholangitis is a progressive liver disease with a remarkably variable course. Biomarkers of disease activity or prognostic models predicting outcome at an individual level are currently not established. AIM: To evaluate the prognostic utility of four biomarkers of bas...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Primary sclerosing cholangitis
• Fibrosis

Patients with end-stage liver disease develop acute decompensation (AD) episodes, which become more frequent and might develop into acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). However, it remains unknown how AD induces acceleration of liver disease. We hypothesized that remodeling of collagen type III pl...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Usually the dense extracellular structure in fibrotic tissues is described as extracellular matrix (ECM) or simply as collagen. However, fibrosis is not just fibrosis, which is already exemplified by the variant morphological characteristics of fibrosis due to viral versus cholestatic, autoimmune or...

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There are no approved treatments for liver fibrosis. To aid development of antifibrotic therapies, noninvasive biomarkers that can identify patients with progressive fibrosis and that permit monitoring of the response to antifibrotic therapy are much needed. Samples from a phase II antifibrotic tria...

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• Type 2-Diabetes
• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

BACKGROUND: While morphological patterns differ, the molecular phenotype of liver fibrosis is considered a stereotypical response to chronic liver injury. However, with different cellular triggers and networks regulating fibrosis, the molecular responses of the injured liver may not be identical. A...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• fibrosis

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS:The treatment of type 2 diabetes with full peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonists improves insulin sensitivity, but is associated with weight gain, heart failure, peripheral oedema and bone loss. Endotrophin, the C-terminal fragment of the α3 chain of proco...

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• Type 2-Diabetes

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The treatment of type 2 diabetes with full peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonists improves insulin sensitivity, but is associated with weight gain, heart failure, peripheral oedema and bone loss. Endotrophin, the C-terminal fragment of the α3 chain of proc...

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• Type 2-Diabetes

Background and aim: Detection of advanced fibrosis (Metavir F≥3) is important to identify patients with a high urgency of antiviral treatments vs. those whose treatment could be deferred (F≤2). The aim was to assess the diagnostic value of novel serological extracellular matrix protein fragments as ...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Background and aims: Progressive fibrosis increases hepatic resistance and causes portal hypertension with complications. During progressive fibrosis remodeling and deposition of collagens and elastin occur. Elastin remodeling is crucially involved in fibrosis progression in animal models and human ...

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• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Emerging evidence suggests that altered components and posttranslational modifications of proteins in the extracellular matrix (ECM) may both initiate and drive disease progression. The ECM is a complex grid consisting of multiple proteins, most of which play a vital role in containing the essential...

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• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Background and aims: The hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) is an important but invasive diagnostic and prognostic marker in cirrhotic patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate a novel biochemical plasma marker of true type V collagen formation (Pro-C5) for describing HVPG. Methods: Ninet...

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• Alcoholic Liver Disease
• Hepatic Diseases

Fibrogenesis results in release of certain extracellular matrix protein fragments into the circulation. We evaluated the diagnostic and prognostic performance of two novel serological markers, the precisely cleaved N-terminal propeptide of type III collagen (Pro-C3) and a peptide of helical collagen...

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• Hepatic Diseases
• Fibrosis

Objectives: Combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) attenuates hepatic fibrosis in hepatitis C virus and HIV coinfected patients. However, the role of HIV or cART on hepatic fibrosis in HIV monoinfection is discussed controversially. During liver fibrosis, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) degrade ext...

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