Gastroenterology
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Comparative Study
Hepatic stellate cells secrete angiopoietin 1 that induces angiogenesis in liver fibrosis.
Although angiogenesis is closely associated with liver fibrosis, the angiogenic factors involved in liver fibrosis are not well characterized. Angiopoietin 1 is an angiogenic cytokine indispensable for vascular development and remodeling. It functions as an agonist for the receptor tyrosine kinase with immunoglobulin G-like and endothelial growth factor-like domains 2 (Tie2) and counteracts apoptosis, promotes vascular sprouting or branching, and stabilizes vessels. ⋯ These results reveal an angiogenic role of HSCs mediated by angiopoietin 1, which contributes to development of liver fibrosis. Thus, angiogenesis and hepatic fibrosis are mutually stimulatory, such that fibrosis requires angiogenesis and angiogenesis requires angiopoietin 1 from activated HSCs.
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Crohn's disease (CD) and sarcoidosis (SA) are chronic inflammatory barrier diseases that share several clinical and immunological features, including the occurrence of granulomas. ⋯ Our study demonstrates that the combined analysis of different, albeit clinically related, phenotypes can lead to the identification of common susceptibility loci.