Barcelona Liver Bioservices announces poster presentation at the Liver Meeting – AASLD 2018

Barcelona Liver Bioservices (BLB) announced today the presentation of a poster describing the mechanisms of action of emricasan in liver cirrhosis at the 69th annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of the Liver (AASLD), held in San Fransico, CA.

Poster #1344 “Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Beneficial Effects of Emricasan in Portal Hypertension and Chronic Liver Disease: Relevance of the Hepato-Sinusoidal Cross-Talk” will be displayed from 14:00 – 19:30h and presented by Zoe Boyer, Associate Scientist at BLB. The study investigates the underlying mechanisms of emricasan improving portal hypertension and fibrosis in pre-clinical models of advanced chronic liver disease. Characterization of hepatocytes and non-parenchymal cells from cirrhotic rats treated with emricasan evidenced a global improvement in cells phenotype. Indeed, and compared to vehicle, hepatocytes exhibited improved synthetic function and expression of key markers, liver sinusoidal endothelial cells had a vasodilator phenotype, hepatic stellate cells became de-activated and macrophages polarized towards a pro-restorative phenotype. Further in vitro experiments confirmed that cirrhotic hepatocytes directly treated with emricasan exhibited significantly improved phenotype, which paracrinally ameliorated liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, macrophages and especially hepatic stellate cells. These paracrine effects were not related to a possible abrogation of apoptotic bodies release by hepatocytes due to emricasan, but to a modification in their secretome machinery.

Importantly, the effects of emricasan improving hepatocytes phenotype were validated in human cirrhotic cells using ExoLiver®, BLB’s proprietary model that mimics the human sinusoid in vitro.

Barcelona Liver Bioservices is a CRO focused on the design and development of pre-clinical research in the field of Hepatology. The company offers cutting-edge research services and consulting to foster the development of new therapeutics for liver diseases, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and cirrhosis.

For more information about the company, current partners and available research services please visit www.liver.barcelona

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