Digestive Diseases News
Fall 2006
Research News
Liver Disease Action Plan on Track After First Year
Progress toward realizing the goals presented in the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Action Plan for Liver Disease Research is on track, according to a 1-year assessment following the plan’s release in December 2004.
In particular, advancement toward several of the goals has been exceeding expectations, according
to the progress report, with researchers zeroing in on more than half of the trans-NIH plan’s 214
research goals in the first year. Among them are
developing a fully permissive cell culture system for replicating the hepatitis C virus further defining pathways and regulation of hepatic cholesterol synthesis and secretion further clarifying normal molecular pathways of iron metabolism in humans developing an animal model for primary sclerosing cholangitis
“The most outstanding—and unexpected—advance last year was the growth of the hepatitis
C culture, which will speed research in this area,” said Jay H. Hoofnagle, M.D., director of the
liver disease research branch, Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, NIH. “We are also
seeing great progress in liver regeneration during liver transplantation or acute liver failure.”
Studies also continue on developing animal models for primary biliary cirrhosis and sclerosing
cholangitis—autoimmune liver diseases that Hoofnagle says have been hard to study in humans.
“The animal models will provide very exciting insights into these diseases,” said Hoofnagle.
“This is equivalent to some of the wonderful animal models developed for type 1 diabetes.”
Benchmark Goals
The action plan outlines 10 benchmark—or long-term, cross-cutting—research goals useful
in evaluating the plan’s overall success. Of those goals, the most progress has been made in developing a more effective method of managing chronic hepatitis B over the long-term. The other benchmark goals are
improving the hepatitis C therapy success rate developing effective therapies for alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease devising sensitive, specific, noninvasive methods of assessing disease state in chronic
liver disease developing specific, sensitive ways of screening high-risk individuals for early hepatocellular
carcinoma finding ways to prevent gallstones clarifying the cause of biliary atresia improving the safety and defining optimal use of living donor liver transplantation developing standardized, objective diagnostic criteria of major liver diseases and their
grading and staging decreasing the mortality rate from liver disease
The action plan, which calls for closer coordination across NIH offices, centers, and Institutes,
aims to boost the rate at which basic scientific discoveries are made and transformed into clinical breakthroughs. In addition to annual progress reviews by the Liver Disease Subcommittee of the Digestive Diseases Interagency Coordinating Committee, a larger group of NIH staff, outside experts, concerned lay people, and representatives from the 16 action plan working groups will meet 5 and 10 years after the plan’s release to perform a more formal assessment.
To read or download a copy of the 2005 Progress Review, go to www.niddk.nih.gov/fund/divisions/ddn/ldrb/Progress_reviews.htm.
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NIH Publication No. 07–4552
November 2006
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