Senescent Hepatocytes and the Innate Immune System
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Senescent Hepatocytes and the Innate immune System
IRAS ID
166865
Contact name
Graeme J. M. Alexander
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS foundation trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 5 days
Research summary
The underlying process that leads to chronic liver disease is not fully understood. Our group has shown that in livers which are damaged (known as fibrosis or cirrhosis) there is a higher number cells with ‘senescence’ than in healthy liver. These abnormal cells do not function correctly, leading to many of the complications of liver disease. Healthy people and people with liver disease that get better are able to get rid of these cells from the liver. We want to work out why people with damaged livers cannot remove these cells. Our plan is to find out whether the immune system in damaged livers is also abnormal so cannot remove these cells.
The first step of this study is to investigate whether HLA (human leucocyte antigen)expression is the same in normal liver cells and liver cells in chronic liver disease. HLA is expressed on the surface of all cells including liver cells to higlight the cells to the immune system which need to be destroyed. Our immune cells kill any cells which have abnormal HLA expression. As mentioned above our theory is that this process is somehow altered in liver disease allowing these senescent (old) hepatocytes to persist.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0127
Date of REC Opinion
6 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion