Digestive Diseases News
Fall 2008

Additional Resources

Liver Disease Research

Three years after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) adopted the Action Plan for Liver Disease Research, the Liver Disease Subcommittee of the Digestive Diseases Interagency Coordinating Committee that developed it reported that important advances have been made toward achieving the 214 research goals outlined in the document.

Since the plan was published in December 2004, the subcommittee has followed up with yearly progress reviews. The most recent, Progress Review for 2007 (Year Three Analysis): Action Plan for Liver Disease Research, reported that several exciting research advances toward the Action Plan’s research goals were achieved last year, including

• development of a transgenic mouse with a “humanized” liver, which has major implications for studying many liver diseases
• further work on the human liver proteome project, which is providing a complete picture of liver proteins and their structures, forms, modifications, and interactions
• a better understanding of interferon induction pathways and antiviral drug resistance associated with hepatitis C virus infection
• development of animal models and elucidation of molecular pathways that are disturbed in fatty liver disease
• development of molecular assays for diagnosis of neonatal cholestatic syndromes
• demonstration that the availability of living donor liver transplantation improves survival of patients with end-stage liver disease
• identification of genes associated with gallstone disease—genes that are linked to cholesterol metabolism and open up new therapeutic possibilities

The 2007 Progress Review is being used by NIH Institutes and Centers and other Federal agencies and nonfederal organizations to plan liver disease research initiatives for 2008 and beyond. Researchers applying for NIH grants related to liver diseases are encouraged to reference the Action Plan and highlight how their proposed studies would address its research goals.

The Action Plan, including the process that resulted in its publication, was used as a model by the National Commission on Digestive Diseases, which is finalizing a 10-year research plan for the wider range of digestive diseases, including a chapter devoted to liver disease research opportunities that was informed by the Action Plan.

For a copy of the progress review for 2007 and the original report, go to www2.niddk.nih.gov/AboutNIDDK/ResearchAndPlanning/Liver_Disease/Action_Plan_For_Liver_Disease_Intro.htm.

Updated Publications

The National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse has updated the following publications:

• Barrett’s Esophagus
• Constipation in Children
• Diverticulosis and Diverticulitis
• Pancreatitis
• Porphyria
• Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis

These publications are available at www.digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/a-z.asp.

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NIH Publication No. 09–4552
December 2008