ESR 8: miRNA markers and cell death in NAFLD progression

Project Summary

This project aims, by using liver-specific miRNA knockout animals subjected to diet-induced Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), in vitro models of disease and patient samples, to investigate molecular targets that may contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory liver diseases progressing to hepatocellular carcinoma, to explore the development of specific anti-miRNA strategies and/or selected small molecules modulators of mitochondrial cell death to treat liver disease and to identify common miRNA signatures in liver and plasma from NAFLD models.

Research will include methodologies associated to Real Time RT-PCR, Northern blot, and in situ analyses to identify and compare miRNA expression levels in both human and mouse cells incubated with free-fatty acids to stimulate NASH, as well as in liver biopsies from NAFLD patients and in diet-induced progressive NAFLD mouse model.