Fibrocytes in liver fibrosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identifying blood cell risk factors in the development of liver fibrosis.
IRAS ID
143702
Contact name
Karen L Wright
Contact email
Research summary
Fibrosis is the production of scar tissue after long periods of inflammation, which is a common mechanism in diseases affecting the liver. Ongoing liver injury, which has many causes, can lead to progression of liver fibrosis into liver cirrhosis, where the liver architecture undergoes permanent changes. The true prevalence of liver fibrosis is difficult to estimate, as the condition is unlikely to manifest physical symptoms and will therefore go undetected by the patient or health-care professionals. However, it is estimated that liver cirrhosis counts amongst the top 10 causes of death worldwide. In this study we plan to investigate the development of fibrous tissue in the liver of patients with cirrhosis. We believe that a certain type of cell called a ‘fibrocyte’, travels to the liver and causes this fibrous tissue. There is evidence of an increase of fibrocytes in other inflammatory disorders such as Pulmonary Fibrosis and Crohn’s disease, in which there is an increase in fibrous tissue. Thus we would like to collect the blood of patients that have chronic liver disease (CLD) (with/without cirrhosis) and healthy individuals (used as a control). We will then extract the fibrocytes from the blood, count these cells in each blood sample and record our findings. With this data we will then compare the recorded number of cells from our patient samples with our controls. We envisage finding a distinct difference in the number of fibrocytes that we find in patients with CLD (with and without cirrhosis) when compared with the controls. In addition we will be using a cannabis-derived compound called cannabidiol to see if it inhibits the growth and differentiation of fibrocytes.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NW/0215
Date of REC Opinion
15 Apr 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion