Kupffer Cells Activity During Pathogenesis of Liver Diseases

Abstract

The resident liver macrophages Kupffer cells, have long been considered as mostly scavenger cells responsible
for removing particulate material from the portal circulation. However, evidence derived mostly from animal
models, indicates that Kupffer cells may be implicated in the pathogenesis of various liver diseases including
viral hepatitis, steatohepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, intrahepatic cholestasis, activation or rejection of the liver during liver transplantation and liver fibrosis. There is accumulating evidence, reviewed in this paper, suggesting that Kupffer cells may act both as effector cells in the destruction of hepatocytes by producing harmful
soluble mediators as well as antigen presenting cells during viral infections of the liver. Moreover they may
represent a significant source of chemoattractant molecules for cytotoxic CD8 and regulatory T cells. Whether
all these variable functions in the liver are mediated by different Kupffer cell subpopulations remains to be
evaluated. In this review we propose a model that demonstrates the role of Kupffer cells in the pathogenesis of
liver disease.