[HTML][HTML] Hedgehog-mediated mesenchymal–epithelial interactions modulate hepatic response to bile duct ligation

A Omenetti, L Yang, YX Li, SJ McCall, Y Jung… - Laboratory …, 2007 - Elsevier
In bile duct-ligated (BDL) rodents, as in humans with chronic cholangiopathies, biliary
obstruction triggers proliferation of bile ductular cells that are surrounded by fibrosis
produced by adjacent myofibroblastic cells in the hepatic mesenchyme. The proximity of the
myofibroblasts and cholangiocytes suggests that mesenchymal–epithelial crosstalk
promotes the fibroproliferative response to cholestatic liver injury. Studying BDL mice, we
found that bile duct obstruction induces activity of the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway, a system that …