
Hepatic Fibrosis – Big Questions and New Paradigms.
This lecture will focus on emerging advances and opportunities for understanding and treating hepatic fibrosis. The lecture is framed around five “big questions”: 1) What determines whether there is healing with regeneration or fibrotic progression? 2) What are the implications of fibroblast heterogeneity? 3) What regulates fibrosis regression and will it improve outcomes? 4) Is clearing fibrogenic cells a realistic strategy? 5) Why is treating fibrosis so difficult? In addition, a new paradigm for cell cell interactions during progressive fibrosis in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) will be introduced, highlighting its implications for new approaches to therapy.