Toll-Like Receptor Signaling in Liver Diseases
1Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
2Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
3Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
4Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA
5Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
Toll-Like Receptor Signaling in Liver Diseases
Description
Toll-like receptors are the pattern recognition receptors that recognize microbes-derived products including bacterial-derived lipopolysaccharide and bacterial-derived DNA. This signaling mainly participates in host defense to eliminate invading microorganisms. Recent observations further suggest that Toll-like receptor signaling also contributes to noninfectious liver diseases including alcohol and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, hepatic fibrosis, drug-induced hepatitis, autoimmune disease, and cancer in animal model. Moreover, several authors have shown that polymorphism of Toll-like receptors is associated with the severity of liver disease.
We invite authors to present original research articles as well as review articles that will stimulate the continuing efforts to define the role of Toll-like receptors in liver diseases. We are also interested in the recent advances regarding cytosolic pattern recognition receptors, RNA helicases in hepatitis C infection, and inflammasome-related molecules including NOD-like receptor family members, caspase-1, and ASC.
The papers that report therapies targeting Toll-like receptor signaling are also welcomed.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Toll-like receptor signaling in specific cell types including Kupffer cells, NK cells, NKT cells, endothelial cells, hepatocytes, and stellate cells in the liver
- Toll-like receptor signaling in infectious diseases in the liver
- Toll-like receptor signaling in noninfectious diseases including ischemia/reperfusion injury, alcoholic, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and cancer in the liver
- Toll-like receptors and RNA helicases in hepatitis B and C infection
- Antagonists or agonists of Toll-like receptor signaling for the therapeutic potential for liver diseases
- Toll-like receptor signaling in autoimmune disease including primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis
- Analyzing gene polymorphisms of Toll-like receptor signaling in liver diseases
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