2021/07/29
Keio University School of Medicine
A research group led by Associate Professor Nobuhiro Nakamoto and Professor Takanori Kanai of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Keio University School of Medicine, and collaborative researcher Yuzo Koda of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, has, in a joint study with the Department of Pathology, Keio University School of Medicine, for the first time in the world revealed the immunological mechanism by which the condition of liver fibrosis in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), caused by long-term intake of a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet, recovers through dietary improvement. Using a mouse model they originally developed, the research group discovered the involvement of a special type of immune cell called "tissue-resident memory CD8 T cells" in the recovery from the pathological condition of NASH. Furthermore, they revealed that these CD8 T cells promote recovery from fibrosis by inducing cell death of hepatic stellate cells, which are considered to be the main culprits in fibrosis.
These findings are the first in the world to demonstrate the previously unclarified recovery mechanism of the liver fibrosis condition. They propose a new role for intrahepatic CD8 T cells, which were conventionally thought to contribute to the progression of liver fibrosis, and are expected to lead to the development of new treatments and diagnostic agents for organ fibrotic diseases, including NASH.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of "Nature Communications" on July 22, 2021.
Please see below for the full press release.