Dictating hepatic immune responses through bile acid-scavenging macrophages (A04)

• Subject Area: Gastroenterology ; Immunology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 530990199

Failure in the process of dead cell clearance by phagocytic macrophages (Mφ) is associated with the development of various autoimmune diseases. In autoimmune liver diseases, accumulation of toxic bile acids (BAs) within parenchymal cells triggers cell death and initiates chronic liver inflammation. Whether Mφ aggravate liver disease via the uptake of BA-laden parenchymal cells is completely unknown and will be investigated in this project. By combining transcriptomic, lipidomic, and functional approaches, we will profile BA-enriched phagocytic Mφ and characterise their immunologic and met-abolic properties to investigate their contribution to the progression of cholestatic liver disease.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1700: Immune regulation in the liver: from homeostasis to disease
• Applicant Institution: Universität Hamburg
• Project Heads: Lidia Bosurgi, Ph.D.; Dr. Anna Worthmann