In tests Japanese scientists have successfully reversed cirrhosis using an artificial molecule. Cirrhosis of the liver is a very serious condition, a form of fibrosis which produces hardened cells in the liver, making it dysfunctional.
This is a major achievement, and may well lead to some more work against other forms of fibrosis, as well as liver cirrhosis.
Reuters explains:
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Cirrhosis occurs when a class of liver cells starts producing collagen, a fibrous material that toughens skin and tendons. Such damage cannot be reversed although steps can be taken to prevent further damage. In advanced cases, transplants are the only way out.
In the journal Nature Biotechnology, the researchers said they designed molecules that can block collagen production by liver "stellate cells", which are also known to absorb vitamin A.
The scientists then loaded the molecules into carriers that were coated with vitamin A, which tricked the stellate cells into absorbing the molecules.
"By packaging the (molecules) in carriers coated with vitamin A, they tricked the stellate cells into letting in the inhibitor, which shut down collagen secretion," the researchers wrote.”
Can’t help remembering that collagen was once hailed as a breakthrough in cosmetic creams.
(Collagen is a protein, which forms fibrous strands creating tensile tissue, hence “fibrosis” for medical conditions related to it. An average of one third of body weight is comprised of collagen in higher mammals.)
The reversal was seen as the liver cells, freed of the fibrosis, began to regenerate tissues.
The administration of the treatment was a simple injection of the rats with the materials containing the molecules.
Obviously, exactly how these molecules work isn’t being advertised. But the blocking of collagen production suggests a bond with the specialized cells that produce it, returning them to normal function, like a patch on a bit of missing machinery.
Collagen in this case is a matter of the cells producing the wrong thing, a protein which isn’t actually required to be produced. It seems to be induced by the kind of chemical havoc created by alcoholism and serious diseases like Hepatitis B and C.
This research could help millions of people from an otherwise potentially fatal disease, and the many more millions suffering from various forms of fibrosis.
