Liver Disease News and Research

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The liver is one of the largest solid organs of the body. It is located in the upper right part of the abdomen. Most of the organ lies under cover of the rib cage.

Targeting EFHD1 Protein Prevents Severe Obesity-Related Metabolic Liver Damage

Obesity-related metabolic liver disease affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, but only some fraction of those livers develop scarring, become inflamed, and eventually fail.

2 Sep 2026

New Transcriptomic Framework Identifies Early Cell Damage Before Organ Failure

Researchers at the University of Cologne, University Hospital Cologne, and the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research have developed a method that, for the first time, enables damage to individual cells to be precisely quantified.

22 Aug 2026

McMaster Team Identifies Natural Immune Defense Against Advanced Fatty Liver Disease

Researchers at McMaster University have discovered that a naturally occurring hormone best known for suppressing appetite and promoting weight loss also helps protect the liver from inflammation through a previously unknown signaling pathway, opening new possibilities for treating advanced fatty liver disease.

11 Aug 2026

Molecular Cell Study Explains Gut Microbiome Impact on Liver Genes

A local research study led by scientists from the A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore (A*STAR GIS) has uncovered how the gut microbiome can influence gene activity in the liver by acting on short stretches of regulatory DNA that function like molecular "switches".

16 Jun 2026

Body Clock Protein Drives Macrophages Into Pro-Inflammatory States

Daily life is shaped by the solar day, influencing when we wake up, eat, work, and sleep. Inside the body, a similar internal timing system -present in nearly every cell- known as the circadian clock, synchronizes many biological functions such as sleep, metabolism, hormone release, and even the immune system's activity.

12 Jun 2026

New 3D Human Liver Model Mimics Chronic Disease For 30 Days

Researchers developed a 3D liver model that functions for a month, replicating inflammation and fibrosis, crucial for studying liver diseases and therapies.

19 May 2026

Uncovering a Second Pathway for On-Demand Glycogen Regulation

Researchers at WEHI have uncovered a never-before-seen mechanism that human bodies utilize to control sugar. These discoveries redefine basic biological principles and pave the way for new scientific discoveries.

24 Apr 2026

"Zombie" Macrophages Accumulate in Aging Tissues and Diseased Livers

UCLA researchers have identified a rogue population of immune cells that quietly accumulates in aging tissues and in the livers of people with fatty liver disease. Clearing these cells, they found, dramatically reduced inflammation and reversed liver damage in mice - even while the animals remained on an unhealthy diet.

16 Apr 2026

New Mouse Model Reveals Viral Path to Liver Cancer

Liver cancer is one of the world's deadliest cancers, and most cases are linked to chronic viral hepatitis. Yet scientists have lacked an animal model that faithfully recapitulates how the disease unfolds in people, from initial infection with a virus to liver inflammation, scarring, and cancer.

7 Apr 2026

Study Reveals Cellular Blueprint of the Human Liver

Never-before-seen 3D reconstructions of human liver tissue have been created at a cellular level. The details obtained by a team of UW Medicine and University of Washington engineers and physicians capture the spatial microstructure of multiple lobes of this multitasking organ.

24 Feb 2026

Unveiling How a Respiratory Bacterium Obtains Lipids and Targets Fatty Tissues

A multidisciplinary team has uncovered a key mechanism that allows the human bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae-responsible for atypical pneumonia and other respiratory infections-to obtain cholesterol and other essential lipids directly from the human body.

16 Jan 2026

Genetic Study Links Expanding DNA Repeats to Aging and Disease Risk

An analysis of genetic data from over 900,000 people shows that certain stretches of DNA, made up of short sequences repeated over and over, become longer and more unstable as we age.

8 Jan 2026

Researchers Find Enzyme That Controls Fat Production, Offering New Drug Target

Obesity is a global epidemic and a major cause of morbidity and mortality because it increases the risk for comorbidities, including heart disease and fatty liver disease (MASLD). Rates of these disorders have risen as the world increasingly adopts energy-dense diets and sedentary lifestyles.

24 Dec 2025