Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Diseases: Liver Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

In 1986, Prof. Jay Hoofnagle was not yet the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition Division Director at the NIDDK, NIH. However, he had already published his pioneering work on Hepatitis B interferon treatment. In December 1986, his seminal article on treatment with recombinant human alpha interferon of what was called chronic non-A non-B hepatitis—and later became HCV hepatitis—opened a new era not only for the future of hepatitis C but for the entire field of hepatology. Until then, hepatitis C has been believed untreatable, the natural history of all viral hepatitis had not been completely elucidated, and diagnostic assays for hepatitis B and C had not been discovered. The availability of antiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis attracted interest in liver diseases, and the eventual approval of interferon for hepatitis B and C treatment was the driver for supporting research in the field. What are the remaining issues in hepatology after that exciting period? Some of the remaining challenges researchers in liver diseases are working on are how treatment now based on oral direct-acting antivirals impact the outcomes of HCV hepatitis; when the experimental compounds for hepatitis B and delta treatment will become available, and how they will be used; whether the diagnostics of HBV-related diseases will now change and how the efforts in reaching underserved populations at high risk for HCV infection transmission, such as the homeless and people injecting drugs, will succeed. This Topic will collect a series of essays addressing aspects of liver diseases’ pathogenesis and treatment, including the most recent advances in DILI and actions to promote liver disease research, training, and education, as well as changes in the field of liver diseases across the world.

Prof. Dr. Alessandra Mangia
Prof. Dr. Maria Guido
Topic Editors