Open AccessEthanol-induced hepatic autophagy: Friend or foe?
Author(s) -
Nabil Eid,
Yuko Ito,
Yoshinori Otsuki
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
world journal of hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 55
ISSN - 1948-5182
DOI - 10.4254/wjh.v7.i9.1154
Subject(s) - autophagy , hepatic stellate cell , steatosis , medicine , cirrhosis , downregulation and upregulation , mitophagy , cancer research , hepatic fibrosis , fibrosis , apoptosis , alcoholic liver disease , stimulation , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , biochemistry , gene
Excessive alcohol intake may induce hepatic apoptosis, steatosis, fibrosis, cirrhosis and even cancer. Ethanol-induced activation of general or selective autophagy as mitophagy or lipophagy in hepatocytes is generally considered a prosurvival mechanism. On the other side of the coin, upregulation of autophagy in non-hepatocytes as stellate cells may stimulate fibrogenesis and subsequently induce detrimental effects on the liver. The autophagic response of other non-hepatocytes as macrophages and endothelial cells is unknown yet and needs to be investigated as these cells play important roles in ethanol-induced hepatic steatosis and damage. Selective pharmacological stimulation of autophagy in hepatocytes may be of therapeutic importance in alcoholic liver disease.