Zhenyu Zhong
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Obesity can slowly damage the liver. Fat builds up first, then inflammation, then scarring, and in some people liver cancer.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Microbiology & Immunology
Physiology
- Topics
hepatocellular carcinoma
liver cancer
fatty liver disease
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2028
What they work on
- Define how obesity-associated loss of nerve–immune communication in the liver contributes to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), using complementary mouse models and human liver specimens.
- Test whether loss of nerve regulation in the obese liver changes the function of macrophages, the immune cells that steer tissue inflammation, so that inflammation persists and steatohepatitis advances.
- Determine the immune mechanisms through which nerve signals restrain liver inflammation and suppress tumor formation, focusing on β₂-adrenergic and IL-10 (an anti-inflammatory signaling molecule) pathways.
- Follow mice over time as liver disease progresses from fat buildup (steatosis) to cancer, to see when and how breakdown of nerve–immune signaling speeds tumor development.
More about the research
The liver has no nerve cells of its own, but nerves from the autonomic nervous system, which runs the body's automatic functions, reach into it and help control its metabolism and immune activity. Evidence from this group and others suggests these liver nerves are gradually damaged as obesity-related liver disease worsens. Whether that nerve damage helps drive chronic inflammation and cancer is still poorly understood.
Why it matters
Obesity is a major and growing risk factor for liver cancer, and people with obesity-linked fatty liver disease (MASLD) have few ways to prevent it. By connecting nerve damage in the liver to inflammation and tumor growth, this work may point to new prevention or treatment strategies for obesity-associated liver cancer. One possibility the grant names is restoring β₂-adrenergic or IL-10 signaling.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Nicholas Davidson
Washington University in St Louis, MO·Medicine & Clinical Research
Determine how the human TM6SF2 E167K variant alters fat loading onto APOB and the release of VLDL from the liver and chylomicrons from the gut, using liver-specific knockout and variant knock-in mice.
Jian-Min Yuan
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Enroll and follow at least 1,000 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and advanced fibrosis, tracking liver stiffness by transient elastography every six months for up to five years.
Shuxia Wang
University of Kentucky, KY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Determine how the macrophage protein SMPDL3B regulates the receptor CD36 and the inflammatory signaling triggered when TSP1, a signaling protein, binds CD36.
The school
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: 40 labs on PI Pages, $869M a year on research, 86 research doctorates a year.
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