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Role of Fibroblast Growth Factors and Their Receptors in Liver Fibrosis and Repair

  • Cytokines That Affect Liver Fibrosis and Activation of Hepatic Myofibroblasts (Tatiana Kisseleva, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Pathobiology Reports

Abstract

Fibrosis is a highly conserved and coordinated protective response to tissue injury. Also liver fibrosis is a wound healing process in response to chronic liver injury. Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and their receptors (FGFRs) are important regulators of wound healing and repair as initially demonstrated for the skin. Although current therapies target FGFRs for the treatment of hepatocellular cancer, whether endogenous FGF signaling plays a protective, pathogenic, or ambivalent role in chronic liver injury and fibrosis, is still very poorly understood. This review summarizes available data indicating that FGFRs are key orchestrators of liver regeneration and repair and that several FGFs/FGFRs also exhibit hepatoprotective and antifibrogenic effects. Furthermore, therapeutic strategies targeting FGFRs for the treatment of liver fibrosis will be critically discussed because particular caution is recommended when interfering with the complex and in wide parts still incompletely understood FGF–FGFR signaling network in chronic liver disease.

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Acknowledgments

Work in the Hellerbrand Lab related to FGFs is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Regensburg, 93053, Regensburg, Germany

    Claus Hellerbrand

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  1. Claus Hellerbrand
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Correspondence to Claus Hellerbrand.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cytokines That Affect Liver Fibrosis and Activation of Hepatic Myofibroblasts.

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Hellerbrand, C. Role of Fibroblast Growth Factors and Their Receptors in Liver Fibrosis and Repair. Curr Pathobiol Rep 3, 235–241 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40139-015-0095-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40139-015-0095-x

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