Metabolic Signature of Hepatic Fibrosis: From Individual Pathways to Systems Biology
1
Liver Research Center, Division of Hepatology, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan
2
Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan
3
Liver Center, Cathay General Hospital Medical Center, Taipei 10630, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cells 2019, 8(11), 1423; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells8111423
Received: 28 September 2019
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Revised: 8 November 2019
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Accepted: 10 November 2019
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Published: 12 November 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Pathogenesis of Hepatic Fibrosis)
Hepatic fibrosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, as it ultimately leads to cirrhosis, which is estimated to affect up to 2% of the global population. Hepatic fibrosis is confirmed by liver biopsy, and the erroneous nature of this technique necessitates the search for noninvasive alternatives. However, current biomarker algorithms for hepatic fibrosis have many limitations. Given that the liver is the largest organ and a major metabolic hub in the body, probing the metabolic signature of hepatic fibrosis holds promise for the discovery of new markers and therapeutic targets. Regarding individual metabolic pathways, accumulating evidence shows that hepatic fibrosis leads to alterations in carbohydrate metabolism, as aerobic glycolysis is aggravated in activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and the whole fibrotic liver; in amino acid metabolism, as Fischer’s ratio (branched-chain amino acids/aromatic amino acids) decreases in patients with hepatic fibrosis; and in lipid metabolism, as HSCs lose vitamin A-containing lipid droplets during transdifferentiation, and cirrhotic patients have decreased serum lipids. The current review also summarizes recent findings of metabolic alterations relevant to hepatic fibrosis based on systems biology approaches, including transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics in vitro, in animal models and in humans.
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Keywords:
hepatic fibrosis; HSC; aerobic glycolysis; Fischer’s ratio; TCA cycle; transcriptomics; proteomics; metabolomics
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Chang, M.-L.; Yang, S.-S. Metabolic Signature of Hepatic Fibrosis: From Individual Pathways to Systems Biology. Cells 2019, 8, 1423. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells8111423
AMA Style
Chang M-L, Yang S-S. Metabolic Signature of Hepatic Fibrosis: From Individual Pathways to Systems Biology. Cells. 2019; 8(11):1423. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells8111423
Chicago/Turabian StyleChang, Ming-Ling, and Sien-Sing Yang. 2019. "Metabolic Signature of Hepatic Fibrosis: From Individual Pathways to Systems Biology" Cells 8, no. 11: 1423. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells8111423
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