{"id":2630,"date":"2017-05-31T17:33:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T07:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/?post_type=wimr_news&p=2630"},"modified":"2024-09-30T18:26:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T08:26:47","slug":"zinc-may-hold-key-to-fighting-liver-disease","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/news\/zinc-may-hold-key-to-fighting-liver-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Zinc may hold key to fighting liver disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

New research from the Westmead Institute has shown that serum zinc may benefit liver disease in a way we never expected.<\/p>\n

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Ahlenstiel and Doctor Scott Read from the Westmead Institue have shown that serum zinc may benefit liver disease in a way we never expected.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

New research from the Westmead Institute\u2019s Storr Liver Centre in collaboration with the Centre for Virus Research and Kirby Institute has shown that serum zinc may benefit liver disease in a way we never expected.<\/p>\n

The study, led by Scott Read and Golo Ahlenstiel, demonstrated that zinc naturally inhibits the inflammatory and antiviral effects of interferon lambda 3 (IFN-\u03bb3), a protein strongly associated with tissue damage in chronic liver disease.<\/p>\n

Lead author of the study, Dr Read, said the study provides the first evidence that zinc can act as a potent and specific inhibitor of IFN-\u03bb3 in the context of viral infections such as hepatitis C and influenza viruses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have demonstrated that zinc inhibits numerous facets of the liver\u2019s immune response to viruses that may be mediated by IFN-\u03bb3.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cZinc interferes with IFN-\u03bb3 binding to the interferon lambda receptor, which results in decreased antiviral activity and increased viral replication both in vitro and in vivo.<\/p>\n

“Interestingly, zinc also blocks the inflammatory activity of IFN-\u03bb3, which has been strongly linked to accelerated progression to liver cirrhosis in viral and non-viral liver disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur data suggests that serum zinc levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C are genetically predetermined by the IFN-\u03bb3 polymorphism, confirming the inhibitory role of zinc in vivo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data highlights the potential for zinc to be used as a simple and effective treatment against acute and chronic inflammation in the liver,\u201d Dr Read concluded.<\/p>\n

Professor Ahlenstiel and his team are now working towards a therapeutic intervention for IFN-\u03bb3-mediated chronic disease.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0full research paper<\/a>\u00a0is available online at Nature Communications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New research from the Westmead Institute has shown that serum zinc may benefit liver disease in a way we never expected. New research from the Westmead Institute\u2019s Storr Liver Centre in collaboration with the Centre for Virus Research and Kirby Institute has shown that serum zinc may benefit liver disease in a way we never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2631,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[19],"class_list":["post-2630","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}