Is Cellular Senescence Involved in Progressive Loss of Canals of Hering in Primary Biliary Cirrhosis?

Yuko Kakuda, Kenichi Harada an

Abstract

Liver progenitor/stem cells (LPCs) play important roles for regeneration or replacement of hepatocytes and also cholangiocytes in some hepatobiliary diseases [1], and it has been reported that the LPCs activation is associated with a hepatic fibrosis and inflammation in several chronic liver diseases, such as chronic viral hepatitis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) [2,3]. Canals of Hering (CoH) are considered to be a niche of LPCs and they locate in between hepatocyte canaliculi and bile ductules.