The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Joel David Schilling and Brian N. Finck of Washington University in St. Louis a grant totaling $2,968,917 for a new project dedicated to reducing hepatocyte damage and liver fibrosis by modulating mitochondrial metabolism in liver immune cells.
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is very common in people with obesity and is a serious public health problem. Research supported by this grant will help gain a better understanding of metabolism in liver macrophages, a cell type that plays an important role in the development and progression of MASLD. Experiments will be carried out to determine if the inhibition of mitochondrial pyruvate metabolism in macrophages might be a new approach to treat MASLD.
These studies will significantly advance our understanding of how mitochondrial metabolism influences the function of resident and recruited hepatic macrophages in metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH), address important knowledge gaps about macrophage metabolism and function in MASH, and be a vital step towards harnessing the therapeutic potential of modulating macrophage metabolism.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01DK145445. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.