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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 21, 2017; 23(19): 3396-3406
Published online May 21, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i19.3396
Renin angiotensin system in liver diseases: Friend or foe?
Ana Cristina Simões e Silva, Aline S Miranda, Natália P Rocha, Antônio L Teixeira
Ana Cristina Simões e Silva, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil
Ana Cristina Simões e Silva, Aline S Miranda, Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Medical Investigation, Faculty of Medicine, UFMG, Belo Horizonte, MG 30130-100, Brazil
Aline S Miranda, Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Morphology, Institute of Biological Sciences, UFMG, Belo Horizonte, MG 30130-100, Brazil
Natália P Rocha, Antônio L Teixeira, Neuropsychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Author contributions: Simões e Silva AC and Teixeira AL designed the article; Miranda AS and Rocha NP performed literature search; Simões e Silva AC, Miranda AS, Rocha NP and Teixeira AL wrote and reviewed the paper.
Supported by CNPq, No. 460334/2014-0; and FAPEMIG, No. CDS - PPM-00555-15.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Simões e Silva AC, Miranda AS, Rocha NP and Teixeira AL declare no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Ana Cristina Simões e Silva, MD, PhD, Professor, Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Medical Investigation, Faculty of Medicine, UFMG, Alfredo Balena Avenue, Number 190, 2nd floor, Room 281, Belo Horizonte, MG 30130-100, Brazil. acssilva@hotmail.com
Telephone: +55-31-34098073 Fax: +55-31-34099770
Received: January 28, 2017
Peer-review started: February 8, 2017
First decision: March 3, 2017
Revised: March 17, 2017
Accepted: April 12, 2017
Article in press: April 12, 2017
Published online: May 21, 2017
Processing time: 111 Days and 20.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: This Editorial reports recent advances on the understanding of the renin angiotensin system in regard to the role of the two main and counter-regulatory mediators, Angiotensin II and Angiotensin-(1-7), in liver diseases and in their main complications. Experimental and clinical findings so far show that Angiotensin-(1-7) by binding to Mas receptor opposes Angiotensin II actions mediated by AT1 receptors in liver tissue, by eliciting anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and anti-fibrotic effects. This knowledge may help in paving the way for the development of novel treatments for liver diseases and their complications.