SAN DIEGO, March 29 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've found a cellular receptor that could help in early interventions or therapy in liver disease.
The report, published in the journal Science, says the cellular receptor is involved in triggering cell death, which is a necessary component of tissue repair and regeneration immediately following liver injury.
Katerina Akassoglou, Ph.D. assistant professor in the University of California San Diego's Department of Pharmacology, and colleagues describe the mechanism by which cells associated with liver damage -- called hepatic stellate cells or HSCs -- are activated by a cell surface molecule called the p75 neurotrophin receptor, p75NTR, to promote repair in the liver.
"Many therapeutics for liver disease target HSCs in order to kill them, but our study in animal models found that their initial activity could actually be protective," Akassoglou said in a release.
