Advanced in vitro models to study liver fibrosis (FWOAL936)

Liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer are increasing prevalent diseases worldwide. Despite their high incidence and devastating outcomes, no efficient therapies are available. Therapeutic approaches are limited to slowing disease progression, but cannot revert it. One of the major obstacles in accelerating the drug discovery pipeline is the lack of robust and representative in vitro models of (human) liver fibrosis. Such models could aid our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of disease progression and in the development of novel pharmaceuticals therapies. In this project we will develop novel liver co-cultures systems and validate them by direct comparison to animal models of liver fibrosis and patients with chronic liver disease. These novel in vitro models of liver fibrosis will facilitate the discovery of, or testing for, novel anti-fibrotic compounds and decrease the health burden of chronic liver diseases. Implementation of such in vitro models could also lead to the reduction, refinement and replacement of animal models to study liver fibrosis.

Keywords:liver fibrosis

Disciplines:Hepatology