A study, published in Molecular Systems Biology, identified several development candidates that could be used to treat fatty liver disease and liver cancer.
Solna, Sweden-based SciLifeLab's Adil Mardinoglu, PhD, and colleagues used biological networks for 46 major human tissues to identify liver-specific gene targets. Researchers mapped metabolic changes in liver cells and compared it to other liver and human tissue data.
Here's what you should know:
1. The team's network modeling approach can identify drug targets and can one day develop strategies for treating several chronic liver diseases.
2. Researchers identified several liver-specific genes linked to Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease pathogenesis or to hepatocellular carcinoma pathogenesis. Both are potential drug development targets.
Researchers concluded, "[We are] extremely pleased that the resource created through the Human Protein Atlas effort has been used in the analysis of clinical data obtained from liver disease patients and that this analysis has led to the identification of liver-specific drug targets that can be used for treatment of this clinically important patient group."