Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41006904›Full record

ArticleNature metabolism2025

A non-apoptotic caspase-8-meteorin pathway in hepatocytes promotes MASH fibrosis.

Xiaobo Wang, Mary P Moore, Hongxue Shi, Yang Xiao, Jiayu Zhang, Lanuza A P Faccioli, Zhiping Hu, Shareef Khalid, Danish Saleheen, Dwayne G Stupack and 4 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature metabolism, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. [Advances in basic and experimental diagnostic research on liver diseases in 2025​].Zhonghua gan zang bing za zhi = Zhonghua ganzangbing zazhi = Chinese journal of hepatology · 2026
    Article
  5. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Xiaobo WangDepartment of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. xw2279@columbia.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6044-914X
Mary P MooreDepartment of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Hongxue ShiDepartment of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Yang XiaoInstitute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, and Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Jiayu ZhangInstitute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, and Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Lanuza A P FaccioliDepartment of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Zhiping HuDepartment of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Shareef KhalidDepartment of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Danish SaleheenDepartment of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Dwayne G StupackDepartment of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences and Moores Cancer Center, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Tatiana KisselevaDepartment of Surgery, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Alejandro Soto GutierrezDepartment of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Mitchell A LazarInstitute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, and Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8653-1280
Ira TabasDepartment of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. iat1@columbia.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3429-1515

Funding

Tumor Biology and Microenvironment ProgramP30CA013696 · NCI · COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE · PI Anil K Rustgi · 1985 to 2026
$115.3M
Pittsburgh Liver Research CenterP30DK120531 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI Shuchang Silvia Liu · 2019 to 2026
$10.9M
The Organoid and Cell Culture CoreP30DK132710 · NIDDK · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI Robert F. Schwabe · 2022 to 2026
$7.2M
Mini-Livers Derived from Human IPS Cells for Modeling Steatosis and TherapyR01DK099257 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI NAGRATH, DEEPAK, SOTO-GUTIERREZ, ALEJANDRO · 2014 to 2024
$3.4M
Discovery of novel therapeutic targets for NASH through deep phenotyping of human knockouts and mechanistic studiesR01DK133694 · NIDDK · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI SALEHEEN, DANISH, TABAS, IRA A · 2022 to 2025
$2.6M
Implementing A QSP Platform to Predict and Test Drugs for Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease Genetic Variants in an iPSC-cell Based Human Biomimetic Liver Microphysiology SystemR01DK135606 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI Mark T. Miedel · 2024 to 2026
$1.9M
PPARa and related nuclear receptors in non-alcoholic fatty liver diseaseR01DK125573 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI LAZAR, MITCHELL A. · 2021 to 2025
$1.8M
Human Liver Tissue & Hepatocytes Research Resource (HLTHRR)R24DK139775 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI DAVID A GELLER, Satdarshan Singh Monga · 2024 to 2026
$1.4M
NCI NIH HHS P30 CA013696NIDDK NIH HHS P30 DK120531NIDDK NIH HHS P30 DK132710NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK099257NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK125573NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK133694NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK135606NIDDK NIH HHS R24 DK139775U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health (NIH) DK133694
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Metabolic-dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease, but an incomplete understanding of MASH-induced liver fibrosis has limited therapeutic options. Here we show that hepatocyte caspase-8 drives MASH fibrosis through an apoptosis-independent mechanism. Hepatic caspase-8 expression correlates with liver fibrosis in both human and experimental MASH, and hepatocyte-specific caspase-8 deletion in male mice with MASH suppressed liver fibrosis and hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation without affecting hepatocyte apoptosis. Mechanistic studies showed that a caspase-8-YY1 pathway in hepatocytes induces secretory meteorin (Metrn), which activates HSCs via a c-Kit-STAT3 pathway. Meteorin expression was increased in human and male mouse MASH livers and decreased by deletion of hepatocyte caspase-8 in MASH mice and human and mouse primary hepatocytes. Genetic restoration of hepatocyte meteorin in hepatocyte-caspase-8-deleted MASH mice restored HSC activation and liver fibrosis while silencing hepatocyte meteorin lowered liver fibrosis. These findings reveal a therapeutically targetable pathway promoting MASH fibrosis involving a non-apoptotic function of caspase-8 and a newly discovered HSC activator, meteorin.

Indexed as

Caspase 8HepatocytesLiver CirrhosisNon-alcoholic Fatty Liver DiseaseAnimalsApoptosisHepatic Stellate CellsHumansMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLSignal TransductionCaspase 8

Identifiers

PMID41006904
PMCPMC12552128

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.