Hideto Kawaratani, Kei Moriya, Tadashi Namisaki, Masakazu Uejima, Mitsuteru Kitade, Kousuke Takeda, Yasushi Okura, Kousuke Kaji, Hiroaki Takaya, Norihisa Nishimura, Shinya Sato, Yasuhiko Sawada, Kenichiro Seki, Takuya Kubo, Akira Mitoro, Junichi Yamao, Hitoshi Yoshiji
Excessive alcohol consumption is the most common cause of liver disease in the world. Chronic alcohol abuse leads to liver damage, liver inflammation, fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α and interferon-γ, induce liver injury, which leads to the develo-pment of alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Hepatoprotective cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10, are also associated with ALD. IL-6 improves ALD via the activation of STAT3 and the subsequent induction of a variety of hepatoprotective genes in hepatocytes...
August 2017: International Journal of Molecular Medicine