Observational studyHepatology (Baltimore, Md.)2021
Programmed Death Ligand 1 Is Overexpressed in Liver Macrophages in Chronic Liver Diseases, and Its Blockade Improves the Antibacterial Activity Against Infections.
Observational study in Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review article: Immunosuppression in Decompensated Autoimmune Hepatitis Cirrhosis - To Suppress or Not to Suppress?Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics · 2026Review
- Progressive Decline in Interferon-γ Release is Associated with Cirrhosis Progression and Severity: A Prospective Preliminary Report.Annals of laboratory medicine · 2026Article
- Uncovering immune dysfunction in ACLF: Cellular mechanisms, molecular pathways, and therapeutic frontiers.Journal of hepatology · 2026Review
- Liver Macrophages in the Pathogenesis of Viral Hepatitis.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Review
- When the Liver Flares: Inflammatory and Immunometabolic Mechanisms Driving the Transition from MASLD to MASH.Inflammation · 2026Review
- The Gastrointestinal Barrier-Mechanisms of Barrier Dysfunction in Liver Cirrhosis and Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Macrophages expressing macrophage receptor with collagen structure attenuate liver fibrosis through a tissue restoration phenotype.JCI insight · 2026Article
- Dysfunctional macrophages along the gut-liver axis: a driver of infection in cirrhosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- The role of PD‑1/PD‑L1 axis in liver diseases.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2025Review
- PD-L1 and the risk of bacterial infection in patients with chronic liver diseases: An international multicohort study.JHEP reports : innovation in hepatology · 2025Article
- Myeloid cells in chronic liver inflammation.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2025Review
- Liver macrophages: development, dynamics, and functions.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2025Review
- Immune Dysfunction and Infection Risk in Advanced Liver Disease.Gastroenterology · 2025Review
- Infection risk and management in patients with cirrhosis: A critical overview.World journal of hepatology · 2025Article
- Potential therapies for acute-on-chronic liver failure.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2025Review
- Small cell lung cancer with liver metastases: from underlying mechanisms to treatment strategies.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2024Review
- Infections in decompensated cirrhosis: Pathophysiology, management, and research agenda.Hepatology communications · 2024Review
- [Infections and liver cirrhosis].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2024Review
- Cathepsin D is essential for the degradomic shift of macrophages required to resolve liver fibrosis.Molecular metabolism · 2024Article
- Liver macrophages revisited: The expanding universe of versatile responses in a spatiotemporal context.Hepatology communications · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsBacterial infections are common and severe in cirrhosis, but their pathogenesis is poorly understood. Dysfunction of liver macrophages may play a role, but information about their function in cirrhosis is limited. Our aims were to investigate the specific profile and function of liver macrophages in cirrhosis and their contribution to infections. Macrophages from human cirrhotic livers were characterized phenotypically by transcriptome analysis and flow cytometry; function was assessed in vivo by single photon emission computerized tomography in patients with cirrhosis. Serum levels of specific proteins and expression in peripheral monocytes were determined by ELISA and flow cytometry. In vivo phagocytic activity of liver macrophages was measured by spinning disk intravital microscopy in a mouse model of chronic liver injury. APPROACH AND
resultsLiver macrophages from patients with cirrhosis overexpressed proteins related to immune exhaustion, such as programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), macrophage receptor with collagenous structure (MARCO), and CD163. In vivo phagocytic activity of liver macrophages in patients with cirrhosis was markedly impaired. Monocytes from patients with cirrhosis showed overexpression of PD-L1 that paralleled disease severity, correlated with its serum levels, and was associated with increased risk of infections. Blockade of PD-L1 with anti-PD-L1 antibody caused a shift in macrophage phenotype toward a less immunosuppressive profile, restored liver macrophage in vivo phagocytic activity, and reduced bacterial dissemination.
conclusionLiver cirrhosis is characterized by a remarkable impairment of phagocytic function of macrophages associated with an immunosuppressive transcriptome profile. The programmed cell death receptor 1/PD-L1 axis plays a major role in the impaired activity of liver macrophages. PD-L1 blockade reverses the immune suppressive profile and increases antimicrobial activity of liver macrophages in cirrhosis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.