On October 24, 2024, Marion Heckmann successfully defended her PhD thesis, entitled “Purification and characterization of hypertrophied hepatic stellate cells in a murine model of metabolic hepatic fibrosis”, under the supervision of Dr Virginie Escriou and Dr Céline Hoffmann. She presented her results to a jury composed of Pr Johanne Leroy-Dudal, Dr Jacques Le Seyec and Pr Valérie Paradis. Her research focuses on the role of hepatic stellate cells with a particular phenotype – the hypertrophied phenotype – in metabolic hepatic fibrosis. To date, there is no anti-fibrotic treatment available on the market, and these cells, with an excessive accumulation of vitamin A-containing droplets, are associated with areas of fibrosis. After perfecting the purification of hypertrophied stellate cells, her work showed that these cells are quite different from the stellate cells present in a healthy liver, according to the genes they express. Hypertrophied stellate cells are involved in cell adhesion, interaction with the immune system, phagocytosis and extracellular matrix regulation. These results open up new possibilities for the identification of fibrosis markers or therapeutic targets for the treatment of hepatic fibrosis.
Congratulations Marion !
