Role of dendritic cells in hepatic fibrosis / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Liver fibrosis is a major cause of morbidity and mor-tality worldwide which poses a great threat to public health. Con-siderable evidence suggests that the immune system is closely re-lated to the development of hepatic fibrosis especially the dendrit-ic cells ( DCs) . In recent years, many studies have showed that DCs play a key role in regulating the immune function of liver, which not only mediate the activation of the immune system and inflammation reaction in liver, but influence the occurrence and development of liver fibrosis. Further study has found that DCs exert different effects on liver fibrosis at different stages of the disease, and it exerts anti-fibrosis in early stages and recession period, while plays opposite effect in the middle of the disease. This article reviews the research progress of the role of DCs in liver fibrosis and discusses the underlying mechanisms of DCs in regulation of liver fibrosis, which may provide references for bas-ic and clinical studies of liver fibrosis.