Grant: Project Grant

Fatty liver diseases, in which too much fat accumulates in the liver, affect one in four Canadians. If untreated, fatty liver progresses to hepatitis, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis (hardened liver) and liver failure. Chronic over consumption of alcohol and high fat diet are known causes of fatty liver diseases. In our preliminary studies, we have treated mice with a combination of alcohol in drinking water and high fat diet and found that the mice develop fatty liver first, followed by hepatitis and eventually liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. By testing various mutant mice that lack specific populations of immune cells, we have found that lymphocytes are not involved in the development of fatty liver but innate lymphocyte populations drive the progression of fatty liver to hepatitis and liver fibrosis. Our goal of the proposed research is to further investigate those innate lymphocytes and find out how they drive hepatitis and fibrosis. We hope that the results obtained by this research will lead to new treatment to prevent liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.