Ross Hall #602
Keynote Speaker: Gregory J. Gores, MD
Reuben R. Eisenberg Professor of Medicine and Physiology
Kinney Executive Dean for Research
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Abstract: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with inflammation and hepatic fibrosis in a subset of patients. These patients are at risk for developing cirrhosis, end stage liver disease, and liver cancer. Although we now appreciate that lipotoxic mechanisms injure the liver in this syndrome, the mechanisms by which lipotoxicity promotes inflammation are obscure. Extracellular vesicles are now appreciated as an important mechanism for cell to cell communication. Dr. Gores work has pioneered the concept that lipotoxic injury is associated with release of proinflammatory extracellular vesicles from hepatocytes. These extracellular vesicles promote recruitment of monocytes and their differentiation into hepatic macrophages. This recruitment and differentiation of monocytes into macrophages promotes liver injury and liver fibrosis. These observations have implications for the treatment of fatty liver disease.
