Ductular Reactions in Liver Injury, Regeneration, and Disease Progression-An Overview

Ductular reaction (DR) is a complex cellular response that occurs in the liver during chronic injuries. DR mainly consists of hyper-proliferative or reactive cholangiocytes and, to a lesser extent, de-differentiated hepatocytes and liver progenitors presenting a close spatial interaction with periportal mesenchyme and immune cells. The underlying pathology of DRs leads to extensive tissue remodeling in chronic liver diseases. DR initiates as a tissue-regeneration mechanism in the liver; however, its close association with progressive fibrosis and inflammation in many chronic liver diseases makes it a more complicated pathological response than a simple regenerative process. An in-depth understanding of the cellular physiology of DRs and their contribution to tissue repair, inflammation, and progressive fibrosis can help scientists develop cell-type specific targeted therapies to manage liver fibrosis and chronic liver diseases effectively.

Recent advances in tissue stem cells

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells capable of self-renewal and differentiation, giving rise to specialized functional cells. Stem cells are of pivotal importance for organ and tissue development, homeostasis, and injury and disease repair. Tissue-specific stem cells are a rare population residing in specific tissues and present powerful potential for regeneration when required. They are usually named based on the resident tissue, such as hematopoietic stem cells and germline stem cells. This review discusses the recent advances in stem cells of various tissues, including neural stem cells, muscle stem cells, liver progenitors, pancreatic islet stem/progenitor cells, intestinal stem cells, and prostate stem cells, and the future perspectives for tissue stem cell research.

Role of Fn14 in acute alcoholic steatohepatitis in mice

TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) is a growth factor for bipotent liver progenitors that express its receptor, fibroblast growth factor-inducible 14 (Fn14), a TNF receptor superfamily member. Accumulation of Fn14(+) progenitors occurs in severe acute alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) and correlates with acute mortality. In patients with severe ASH, inhibition of TNF-α increases acute mortality. The aim of this study was to determine whether deletion of Fn14 improves the outcome of liver injury in alcohol-consuming mice. Wild-type (WT) and Fn14 knockout (KO) mice were fed control high-fat Lieber deCarli diet or high-fat Lieber deCarli diet with 2% alcohol (ETOH) and injected intraperitoneally with CCl₄ for 2 wk to induce liver injury. Mice were euthanized 3 or 10 days after CCl₄ treatment. Survival was assessed. Liver tissues were analyzed for cell death, inflammation, proliferation, progenitor accumulation, and fibrosis by quantitative RT-PCR, immunoblot, hydroxyproline content, and quantitative immunohistochemistry. During liver injury, Fn14 expression, apoptosis, inflammation, hepatocyte replication, progenitor and myofibroblast accumulation, and fibrosis increased in WT mice fed either diet. Mice fed either diet expressed similar TWEAK/Fn14 levels, but ETOH-fed mice had higher TNF-α expression. The ETOH-fed group developed more apoptosis, inflammation, fibrosis, and regenerative responses. Fn14 deletion did not reduce hepatic TNF-α expression but improved all injury parameters in mice fed the control diet. In ETOH-fed mice, Fn14 deletion inhibited TNF-α induction and increased acute mortality, despite improvement in liver injury. Fn14 mediates wound-healing responses that are necessary to survive acute liver injury during alcohol exposure.

Repair-associated inflammation in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

The mechanisms that drive non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) progression from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and NASH-fibrosis and/or cirrhosis are complex. Recent studies suggest that the liver progenitor cell (ie liver stem cell) population expands during chronic liver injury, and is an essential component of the repair process. Hedgehog (Hh) is a developmental morphogen that has an important role in the adult tissue repair (and progenitor) response. Accumulating data in mice and human show that resurrection of the Hh pathway occurs during progressive NAFLD, and that activity of this pathway correlates with NASH-fibrosis stage. Importantly, Hh ligands secreted by dying (or stressed) hepatocytes, hepatic stellate cells (i.e. myofibroblasts), cholangiocytes and recruited immune cells can act on neighbouring cells to perpetuate the fibrogenic response. Intriguingly, Hh ligands can also stimulate cholangiocytes to secrete chemokines that recruit immune cell subsets (such as natural killer T cells), which could explain why fibrosis generally occurs in the context of chronic inflammation (i.e. fibrosis-associated inflammatory response). Finally, the administration of Hh inhibitors led to reduced fibrosis in a model of NASH. Future studies are needed to evaluate the utility of these inhibitors in other models of chronic liver disease. If successful, this could pave the way for the development of new therapy for patients with NASH, because Hh pathway inhibitors have now been licensed for use in patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma.

Hedgehog signaling in cholangiocytes

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Cells lining the biliary tree are targets of injury, but also orchestrate liver repair. The latter involves autocrine/paracrine signaling that enhances the viability and growth of residual ductular cells and promotes accumulation of inflammatory and myofibroblastic cells. The mechanisms mediating this so-called 'ductular reaction' need to be better understood to improve injury outcomes. Studies are revealing that ductular cells produce and respond to hedgehog (Hh) ligands, developmental morphogens that control progenitor cell fate and tissue construction during embryogenesis. Because this has potential implications for liver repair, this review will summarize current knowledge about Hh signaling and cholangiocytes.

RECENT FINDINGS

Diverse types of liver injury stimulate cholangiocytes to generate Hh ligands, and cholangiocyte-derived Hh ligands interact with receptors on cholangiocytes and neighboring cells to modulate virtually every aspect of the ductular reaction to injury. Excessive Hh signaling promotes dysfunctional repair and results in chronic hepatic inflammation, fibrogenesis, and carcinogenesis.

SUMMARY

The Hh pathway is part of the complex signaling network that orchestrates liver repair. How other pathways and posttranscriptional mechanisms modulate Hh signaling in ductular cells remains unclear. Further research in this area may identify novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of cholangiopathies and cholangiocarcinoma.

Paracrine modulation of cholangiocyte serotonin synthesis orchestrates biliary remodeling in adults

Paracrine signaling between cholangiocytes and stromal cells regulates biliary remodeling. Cholangiocytes have neuroepithelial characteristics and serotonin receptor agonists inhibit their growth, but whether they are capable of serotonin biosynthesis is unknown. We hypothesized that cholangiocytes synthesize serotonin and that cross talk between liver myofibroblasts (MF) and cholangiocytes regulates this process to influence biliary remodeling. Transwell cultures of cholangiocytes ± MF, and tryptophan hydroxylase-2 knockin (TPH2KI) mice with an inactivating mutation of the neuronal tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) isoform, TPH2, were evaluated. Results in the cell culture models confirm that cholangiocytes have serotonin receptors and demonstrate for the first time that these cells express TPH2 and produce serotonin, which autoinhibits their growth but stimulates MF production of TGF-β(1). Increased TGF-β(1), in turn, counteracts autocrine inhibition of cholangiocyte growth by repressing cholangiocyte TPH2 expression. Studies of TPH2KI mice confirm that TPH2-mediated production of serotonin plays an important role in remodeling damaged bile ducts because mice with decreased TPH2 function have reduced biliary serotonin levels and exhibit excessive cholangiocyte proliferation, accumulation of aberrant ductules and liver progenitors, and increased liver fibrosis after bile duct ligation. This new evidence that cholangiocytes express the so-called neuronal isoform of TPH, synthesize serotonin de novo, and deploy serotonin as an autocrine/paracrine signal to regulate regeneration of the biliary tree complements earlier work that revealed that passive release of serotonin from platelets stimulates hepatocyte proliferation. Given the prevalent use of serotonin-modulating drugs, these findings have potentially important implications for recovery from various types of liver damage.

Viral factors induce Hedgehog pathway activation in humans with viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma

Hedgehog (Hh) pathway activation promotes many processes that occur during fibrogenic liver repair. Whether the Hh pathway modulates the outcomes of virally mediated liver injury has never been examined. Gene-profiling studies of human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) demonstrate Hh pathway activation in HCCs related to chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV). Because most HCCs develop in cirrhotic livers, we hypothesized that Hh pathway activation occurs during fibrogenic repair of liver damage due to chronic viral hepatitis, and that Hh-responsive cells mediate disease progression and hepatocarciongenesis in chronic viral hepatitis. Immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR analysis were used to analyze Hh pathway activation and identify Hh-responsive cell types in liver biopsies from 45 patients with chronic HBV or HCV. Hh signaling was then manipulated in cultured liver cells to directly assess the impact of Hh activity in relevant cell types. We found increased hepatic expression of Hh ligands in all patients with chronic viral hepatitis, and demonstrated that infection with HCV stimulated cultured hepatocytes to produce Hh ligands. The major cell populations that expanded during cirrhosis and HCC (ie, liver myofibroblasts, activated endothelial cells, and progenitors expressing markers of tumor stem/initiating cells) were Hh responsive, and higher levels of Hh pathway activity associated with cirrhosis and HCC. Inhibiting pathway activity in Hh-responsive target cells reduced fibrogenesis, angiogenesis, and growth. In conclusion, HBV/HCV infection increases hepatocyte production of Hh ligands and expands the types of Hh-responsive cells that promote liver fibrosis and cancer.