Sea lamprey biliary atresia research

In infant biliary atresia, a rare disease in newborns, patients often die within the first few years without treatment. A striking contrast is found in lampreys, a group of extant jawless vertebrates that go through developmental biliary atresia during metamorphosis. The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) loses the entire biliary tree when their larvae metamorphose into parasitic juveniles. The aductular juveniles feed ferociously and grow exponentially into fecund adults without complications or liver failure that afflict patients with biliary atresia or other forms of cholestasis. The transcriptomic analysis of the sea lamprey livers at different development stages may unravel the mechanism that the sea lamprey goes through developmental biliary atresia.

婴儿胆道闭锁（biliary atresia）是一种新生儿罕见疾病，未经治疗的患儿常在数年内死亡。现存无颌脊椎动物类群七鳃鳗在变态发育过程中会经历发育性胆道闭锁，二者形成鲜明对比。海七鳃鳗（Petromyzon marinus）的幼虫变态为寄生幼体时，会丧失整个胆道系统。这类无胆管幼体会疯狂摄食，并以指数级速度生长为繁殖能力旺盛的成体，期间不会出现胆道闭锁或其他胆汁淤积症患者所经受的并发症与肝功能衰竭。对不同发育阶段海七鳃鳗的肝脏开展转录组学分析，或可阐明七鳃鳗应对发育性胆道闭锁的潜在机制。