• April 25, 2024

Excessive alcohol consumption, virus infection of the hepatitis B and C, as well as obesity, can damage the liver, resulting in liver fibrosis and finally cirrhosis; the latter is considered the third cause of death in men and the seventh in women in Mexico.

The liver It has a great regenerative capacity; when suffering a damage due to some pathology, it is repaired and forms an extracellular matrix scar that isolates the damaged area, that is, fibrosis.

Subsequently, through the different mechanisms that this has organ (as the replacement of said matrix) the fiber that was formed to isolate the tissue affected and repair it. From the injury initial that suffers the liver Until cirrhosis occurs, it can take up to 30 years, during which time this organ is repairing itself, forming scars that result in chronic cirrhosis

How does it hurt your liver?

However, when the liver is constantly damaged by different pathologies scars form that causethe tissue have a lower function and that organ begins to fail. In spite of this he can work for many years, until finally he loses his functions, presenting decompensated cirrhosis and severe liver failure; for this reason it is important to have diagnostic methods that detect these injuries in a timely manner.

Carolina Guzmán Arriaga, from the Laboratory of Liver, Pancreas and Motility of the Experimental Medicine Unit of the Faculty of Medicine of the UNAM and the General Hospital of Mexico, study the role of a group of proteins in hepatic fibrosis.

He explained that currently the diagnosis of this is made through a biopsy, an invasive procedure that carries certain risks for the patient. "To assess how deterioration in the liver progresses, a sample of this should be taken every six months, which may represent a risk especially after it has been Hepatic injury for many years".

In this way, the researcher identified that the IGFBP 1 protein is 25 times more expressed in subjects with chronic infection by virus. hepatitis C , one of the main causes of hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis and even hepatocarcinoma.

The doctor Arriaga, proposed the study of IGFBP proteins during liver fibrosis as part of the proteins involved in the processes that lead to the development of the fibrosis, such as inflammation, generation of extracellular matrix and repair.

"What we are doing would allow us to affirm that this could be a good non-invasive biomarker for the study of Liver fibrosis. Initially it would be a diagnostic option, because it would tell us how the fibrogenic process is progressing, "he said.

He highlighted the need to study molecules that allow diagnosis, monitoring and prognosis of diseases that damage the liver; besides that the damage must be prevented hepatic by moderating alcohol consumption, caring for body weight, avoiding obesity, getting vaccinated against hepatitis B and avoid the risk of hepatitis C infection

Video Medicine: Liver Failure | FAQ with Dr. Amy Kim (April 2024).