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ARTICLE | Preclinical News

Team identifies RORA as potential NASH target

July 11, 2017 10:33 PM UTC

In a paper published in Cell Reports, researchers at Seoul National University showed retinoid-related orphan receptor alpha (RORA) regulated polarization of liver macrophages to protect against non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, and suggested activation of RORA could help treat NASH.

Liver macrophages including Kupffer cells switch between two phenotypes, M1 and M2, to regulate homeostasis. Previous studies showed M1 macrophages were associated with hepatic steatosis and inflammation, whereas M2 macrophages protected against NASH in mice...