The Antifibrotic Role of Natural Killer Cells in Liver Fibrosis

Overview

Journal Exp Biol Med (Maywood)

Specialty Biology

Date 2022 Apr 27

PMID 35475367

Authors

Yuan Wei

Wang Bingyu

Yang Lei

Yuan Xingxing

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Liver fibrosis is the common pathological change of chronic liver diseases characterized by increased deposition of extracellular matrix and reduced matrix degradation. In response to liver injury caused by a variety of pathogenic agents, such as virus and alcohol, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are differentiated into myofibroblast-like cells and produce excessive collagens, thus resulting in fibrogenesis. Natural killer (NK) cells are the essential innate immune cells in the liver and generally control fibrosis by killing activated HSCs. This review briefly describes the fibrogenesis process and the phenotypic features of hepatic NK cells. Besides, it focuses on the antifibrotic mechanisms of NK cells and explores the potential of activating NK cells as a therapeutic strategy for the disease.

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