Scientists have discovered why the liver may not fully heal even after you stop drinking.
Recently, there have been several recent developments in the field of international medical health that continue to attract the attention of the industry and the public. One of the most surprising capabilities of the liver to interfere with excessive alcohol consumption is to repair and rebuild itself after injury. Recent research suggests that alcohol-related damage can cause liver cells to be trapped in an abnormal intermediate state, unable to function normally or complete the entire regeneration process even if a person stops drinking alcohol.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Duke University, and Chan Zuckerberg's Biohub in Chicago found that this blank region of the cell appears to be the result of an inflammatory RNA transcription process, a key step in cell use to convert genetic information into working proteins. The findings, published in Nature Communications, offer new perspectives and possible treatments for severe alcohol-related liver disease. The liver differs from other major human organs in function because the liver can regenerate after significant damage or even partial damage.
Under normal circumstances, surviving liver cells can temporarily change their identity, increase in number, and then mature again to restore lost tissue. That ability can be broken down into alcohol-related liver disease, the leading cause of liver death worldwide, with about 3 million deaths worldwide annually. Biochemistry professor Auinash Kalsotra and Duke University School of Medicine professor Anna Mae Diehl worked together to find the only real life-saving treatment option for patients who have reached the stage of liver failure in these diseases.
Their previous work showed that regenerated liver cells temporarily reprogrammed which genes they used. To begin the repair process, mature liver cells returned to a primary embryonic state similar to that of a fetus. Cells divide and produce new tissue.
After division, cells usually reverse this process and become mature cells, with fully functioning liver cells reappearing. This early discovery prompted researchers to start asking questions about which links of the cell cycle have errors or disorders in alcohol-related liver disease. Liver cells became trapped in empty areas, and the research team studied the problem in depth by comparing healthy liver samples and alcohol-related liver disease cell samples.
It should be noted that the above information was compiled based on international public research findings, for reference in HealthCop, and does not constitute a clinical recommendation. If you have any health questions, consult professional medical professionals.
