Cholangiocyte Biology in Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis and Other Cholangiopathies: Pathogenesis, Clinical Insights, and Experimental Tools - PubMed
3 hours ago
- #Cholangiopathies
- #Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
- #Cholangiocytes
- Cholangiocytes are specialized epithelial cells lining the bile ducts, crucial for bile modification, liver homeostasis, and injury response.
- Cholangiocyte dysfunction is central to cholangiopathies, including Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), a progressive fibro-inflammatory disease linked to inflammatory bowel disease and cancer risk, with no approved therapies.
- PSC involves a paradoxical state of cholangiocyte senescence and hyperproliferation, driven by immune dysfunction, gut microbiome, genetics, and environmental factors.
- Advanced techniques like organoid cultures, single-cell transcriptomics, epigenomics, and spatialomics have transformed understanding of biliary pathophysiology.
- Ongoing multidisciplinary efforts are essential for developing targeted interventions, as PSC remains therapeutically unaddressed.