Chronic liver damage can lead to hepatitis, which causes fibrosis of the liver. This buildup of collagen and other fibrous tissue accelerates when hepatic stellate cells become activated during hepatitis, often resulting in liver cancer or cirrhosis, both of which can be fatal. As there are no effective drugs to treat cirrhosis, suppressing the activation of the stellate cells is considered as a way of controlling the progression of liver fibrosis.

“It is estimated that one out of every 3-4 people worldwide have steatotic liver disease, when there is an abnormal accumulation of lipids, which is a precursor to fibrosis. So, it is important to prevent the progression of liver fibrosis at an early stage,” explained Dr. Hayato Urushima, an Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Medicine at Osaka Metropolitan University.

His research team investigated how AHCC (Amino Up Co., Ltd., Sapporo, Japan), a standardized extract of cultured Lentinula edodes mycelia, protects the liver and its mechanism.

The team administered AHCC to mice and found that the supplement might inhibit the activation of hepatic stellate cells through two channels.

Via the TLR2 (toll-like receptor protein) channel, AHCC induced cytoglobin that decreased reactive oxygen species, while via the TLR4 channel, the supplement suppressed the expression of collagen in the liver of the mice.

“We aim to conduct clinical trials to confirm the efficacy of AHCC in patients with liver fibrosis to build more reliable scientific evidence,” Dr. Urushima stated.

The findings were first published online on September 24, 2024, in the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, with the final version published on November 6, 2024.

Funding
This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science London (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP17K15561, 20K16226 (to H.U.), and 21H02626 (to T.M.).

Disclosures
AHCC^® is a trademark of Amino Up Co., Ltd., Sapporo, Japan. Dr. Urushima received a research grant from Amino Up Co., Ltd. None of the other authors has any conflicts of interests to disclose.

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