Gastroenterology Commons^™

Hepatic Lipocalin 2 Promotes Liver Fibrosis And Portal Hypertension, Jiegen Chen, Josepmaria Argemi, Gemma Odena, Ming-Jiang Xu, Yan Cai, Veronica Massey, Austin Parrish, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli, Jose Altamirano, Joaquin Cabezas, Pere Gines, Juan Caballeria, Natasha Snider, Pau Sancho-Bru, Shizuo Akira, Ivan Rusyn, Bin Gao, Ramon Bataller

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Advanced fibrosis and portal hypertension influence short-term mortality. Lipocalin 2 (LCN2) regulates infection response and increases in liver injury. We explored the role of intrahepatic LCN2 in human alcoholic hepatitis (AH) with advanced fibrosis and portal hypertension and in experimental mouse fibrosis. We found hepatic LCN2 expression and serum LCN2 level markedly increased and correlated with disease severity and portal hypertension in patients with AH. In control human livers, LCN2 expressed exclusively in mononuclear cells, while its expression was markedly induced in AH livers, not only in mononuclear cells but also notably in hepatocytes. Lcn2−/− mice were protected from liver …