Gene Switches On Repair in Liver

Researchers may have identified a master switch that activates the liver's ability to heal itself, suggesting a route to better treatments for liver diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis. Mice that lacked the gene showed a marked deterioration in their livers and lived shorter lives than normal mice.
Damage to the liver activates a group of specialized wound-healers called hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which churn out scaffoldlike collagen fibers that support the growth of new liver cells. But when they stay activated for too long, the fibers begin substituting for healthy liver tissue, leading to liver failure in people with chronic cirrhosis, for example. But researchers do not know which genes control the process.
Researches of the University of California, San Diego, thought they had a good candidate in the gene for the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR), a regulator of cell death in the brain that also switches on soon after liver injuries.

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