Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. May 27, 2019; 11(5): 412-420
Published online May 27, 2019. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v11.i5.412
Roles of hepatic stellate cells in acute liver failure: From the perspective of inflammation and fibrosis
Juan Li, Ying-Ren Zhao, Zhen Tian
Juan Li, Ying-Ren Zhao, Zhen Tian, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Hepatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Li J contributed to literature search, manuscript drafting and final revision of the article; Zhao YR contributed to figure drawing and final revision of the article; Tian Z contributed to the study idea and design, manuscript drafting and final revision of the article.
Supported by: National Natural Science Foundation, No. 81800548.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Open-Access: This is an open-access article that 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/
Corresponding author: Zhen Tian, MD, PhD, Doctor, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Hepatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 277 Yanta Road (w), Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China. tianzen1984@163.com
Telephone: +86-29-85323634 Fax: +86-29-85323634
Received: February 23, 2019
Peer-review started: February 25, 2019
First decision: April 22, 2019
Revised: May 14, 2019
Accepted: May 21, 2019
Article in press: May 21, 2019
Published online: May 27, 2019
Processing time: 94 Days and 4.4 Hours
Abstract

Acute liver failure (ALF) usually results in hepatocellular dysfunction and coagulopathy and carries a high mortality rate. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are famous for their role in liver fibrosis. Although some recent studies revealed that HSCs might participate in the pathogenesis of ALF, the accurate mechanism is still not fully understood. This review focuses on the recent advances in understanding the functions of HSCs in ALF and revealed both protective and promotive roles during the pathogenesis of ALF: HSC activation participates in the maintenance of cell attachment and the architecture of liver tissue via extracellular matrix production and assists liver regeneration by producing growth factors; and HSC inflammation plays a role in relaying inflammation signaling from sinusoids to parenchyma via secretion of inflammatory cytokines. A better understanding of roles of HSCs in the pathogenesis of ALF may lead to improvements and novel strategies for treating ALF patients.

Keywords: Acute liver failure; Hepatic stellate cells; Inflammation; Fibrosis

Core tip: Acute liver failure (ALF) is a rare life-threatening disease with a high mortality rate and is characterized by massive hepatocyte death and overactivation of hepatic inflammation. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play both protective and promotive roles during the pathogenesis of ALF: HSC activation participates in the maintenance of cell attachment and the architecture of liver tissue via extracellular matrix production and assists liver regeneration by producing growth factors; and HSC inflammation plays a role in relaying inflammation signaling from sinusoids to parenchyma via secretion of inflammatory cytokines. A better understanding of roles of HSCs in ALF will lead to improvements for treating ALF patients.