Plastic pollution is an emerging yet understudied environmental risk to the immune system. Once ingested, microplastic and nanoplastic particles (MNPs) can translocate from the gut to internal organs 1-3 , with macrophages serving as primary targets 4 . Kupffer cells (KCs), the liver-resident macrop

Chronic or persistent T cell activation is widely thought to culminate in T cell exhaustion, yet how autoreactive CD8+ T cells remain functionally intact despite sustained self-antigen exposure is poorly understood. In chronic infection and cancer this durability is attributed to stem-like, TCF1+ PD

Publication date: Available online 25 September 2026 Source: Journal of Hepatology Author(s): Mathias Heikenwalder, Yasuko Iwakiri

Publication date: Available online 23 September 2026 Source: Journal of Hepatology Author(s): Jiang Chenhao, Han Lu, Liu Yasong, Zhang Jianhao, Chen Huaxin, Wen Xinyun, Chi Xianda, Fan Linda, Li Tianyi, Shi Shaojun, Chen Sunrui, Xiao Jiaqi, Lv Xing, Zhang Jiebin, Zhao Xuegang, Zhang Yujun, Liu Jianr

Zhang et al. identify a key profibrotic function of FBXL6 in hepatic stellate cells through activation of the RPL4-YY1-PD-L1-PI3K-AKT-mTOR axis. Targeting RPL4 in combination with PD-L1 blockade achieves near-complete resolution of liver fibrosis.

Surgical stress, such as liver ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury characterized by robust neutrophil infiltration and immune activation, induces sterile inflammation that reshapes tissue immunity and contributes to organ dysfunction, yet the intercellular circuits that spatially orchestrate these res

Hepatic fibrosis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with schistosomiasis without effective therapy. Here we show that vitamin D receptor (VDR) signaling in macrophages is essential for limiting fibrosis, acting through a previously unrecognized metabolic epigenetic circuit.

Sawada et al. show that reduced hepatic glutamine drives pathogenic CD4+ T cell responses that promote MASLD progression. Restoring liver glutamine suppresses inflammation and limits liver injury. These findings identify T cell glutamine metabolism as a key metabolic checkpoint and promising therape

Zhang et al. identify SIRT2 as a zonated cholesterol sensor in periportal hepatocytes, where chronic cholesterol overload hyperactivates SIRT2 to suppress CYP7B1‑mediated bile acid synthesis, leading to 27‑hydroxycholesterol accumulation and ultimately driving MASLD‑HCC.

Publication date: Available online 12 September 2026 Source: JHEP Reports Author(s): Joanna Razafiarison, Nicolas Venteclef, Florent Ginhoux, Camille Blériot

The vascular endothelium forms a systemically disseminated organ that translates micromilieu factors into instructive cues, designated as angiocrine signalling. While vascular control of organ function mechanisms have been discovered in essentially all major organs, the mechanisms of translating mil

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) commonly develops in the context of chronic liver injury and fibrosis, and its immune evasion and therapeutic resistance are shaped not only by tumor-intrinsic factors but also by persistent interactions between the tumor stroma and immune cells. Hepatic stellate cells

Xiao et al. identify a liver-derived β-hydroxybutyrate-CREM signaling axis that drives CD8+ T cell immunosenescence. Restoring β-hydroxybutyrate reverses T cell exhaustion and improves antitumor, antiviral, and CAR T cell immunity in aged hosts, revealing a metabolic strategy to rejuvenate immune fu

Publication date: September 2026 Source: Journal of Hepatology, Volume 85, Issue 3 Author(s): Lukas Van Melkebeke, Markus Boesch, Tessa Ostyn, Wenxin Huang, Cansu Akkaya, Matthias van Sligtenhorst, Dania El Abyad, Fateme Safaeifard, Alexander Dumarey, Marie Wallays, Bram Boeckx, Rita Feio-Azevedo, L

Publication date: Available online 13 August 2026 Source: Journal of Hepatology Author(s): Katie Harrison, Jessica Nulty, Eirini Kyrana, Anil Dhawan

Publication date: Available online 13 August 2026 Source: Journal of Hepatology Author(s): Katie Harrison, Jessica Nulty, Eirini Kyrana, Anil Dhawan

Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) regulate nutrient flux and immune surveillance within the hepatic niche, yet how they function as metabolic stress sensors that instruct adaptive immune remodeling during metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) remains unclear. Here

Publication date: Available online 31 July 2026 Source: Journal of Hepatology Author(s): Chenghao Zhao, Huzheng Yan, Zhixing Liang, Haoyuan Yu, Luwen Mu, Zhanwang Xiang, Kun Li, Yongwei Hu, Zhengqi Wu, Tao Pan, Mingming Liu, Yang Yang, Linsen Ye, Mingsheng Huang

Publication date: Available online 15 July 2026 Source: Journal of Hepatology Author(s): Takefumi Kimura, Shun-ichi Wakabayashi, Takanobu Iwadare, Shohei Kondo, Taiki Okumura, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Yuki Yamashita, Yuma Kamijo, Kaede Fujita, Tomoyuki Nakajima, Takuro Uchida, Tomoo Yamazaki, Mai Iwaya,

Dietary cholesterol and de novo cholesterol synthesis in the liver use reciprocal coordination to maintain cholesterol homeostasis. However, high level of dietary cholesterol still promotes excessive cholesterol accumulation in the liver, leading to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (

GLP-1 medicines are used to treat people with type 2 diabetes, obesity, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Here, Gonzalez-Rellan et al. demonstrate that semaglutide activates...

Advances in technology continue to refine our understanding of CD8 T cell memory, with major implications for next-generation vaccines and therapies.

Bian et al. show that the GLP-1R agonist liraglutide alleviates depression via a GLP-1R-independent, gut-microbiota-dependent mechanism. Liraglutide enriches Lactobacillus delbrueckii, elevating 2-ara...

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) progression involves the replacement of protective embryo-derived Kupffer cells (KCs) by inflammatory monocyte-derived macrophages (MoMFs), yet the regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we identify chitinase 3-like 1 (Chi3l1/YKL-

Ye et al. uncover that fatty liver exacerbates hyperglycemia through hepatocyte-to-intestinal stem cell remote communication driven by the ALP-α2δ-1/CaV1.2-SOX21 axis via the calcineurin-NFATC2 signaling cascade, which regulates ISC differentiation and glucose homeostasis in vivo. They find inhibiti

Long associated with aging, senescent cells can promote health and have physiological roles

Here the authors show that persistent antigen stimulation drives the generation of CD8+ tissue-resident exhausted T cells with distinct developmental origins, function and therapeutic responsiveness w...

Lyu et al. present a convenient and accessible method for profiling of both regular and newly synthesized transcriptomes in single cells. Using this approach, they characterize the temporal dynamics o...

Environmental stresses, such as a high-fat diet, disrupt liver cell balance by promoting pro-survival, developmental, and regenerative programs while impairing key tissue functions. These stress respo...

Testing in mice suggests that rejuvenating T cells could make vaccines and some cancer therapies more effective.

Nature Metabolism - Dietary restriction promotes the expansion of effector T cells via ketone bodies, which enhances anti-tumour immunity and synergizes with immunotherapy in mice.

Persistent glycolytic dependence underlies chronic inflammation and deleterious fibrosis associated with implant complications.