In a world-first, QIMR Berghofer scientists have discovered the mechanism that causes severe inflammation among millions of people with chronic liver disease.
Published in the US-based international journal, Science Signaling, the discovery identifies how and why elevated ferritin (a protein that normally stores iron within cells) causes inflammation which ultimately leads to liver dysfunction including cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure if left untreated.
Professor Grant Ramm, Deputy Director of QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and head of the Hepatic Fibrosis Laboratory, said this finding could pave the way for new targeted therapeutics to treat both inherited and acquired liver disease.
