Award Winner 2024

This study explored what factors impact the regression of liver fibrosis in patients with cirrhosis or advanced chronic liver disease (ACLD). Regardless of the disease's original cause, this study showed that obesity, high liver stiffness, and carrying a specific genetic variation (GCKR variant rs1260326) make fibrosis regression less likely.

Metabolic analysis identified two key molecules—taurocholic acid and taurochodeoxycholic acid—as predictors of regression. Additionally, the authors could identified and validated a metabolic signature associated with fibrosis regression as a potential non-invasive biomarker to detect fibrosis regression in ACLD.

^{Mendoza YP, et al. Metabolic phenotyping of patients with advanced chronic liver disease for better characterization of cirrhosis regression. J Hepatol. 2024 Dec;81(6):983-994}