Institute of Hepatology

Dr Salvatore Papa

This grant was awarded to Dr Salvatore Papa for the consumables necessary for him to carry out his research on the molecular development of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma at the Institute of Hepatology, London.

Dr Papa’s work involved researching cholangiocytes, specialised epithelial cells that form the small bile ducts that drain bile from the liver.

In a normal, healthy liver, these cholangiocytes possess a remarkable ability to regenerate, responding to an injury by replacing dead cells with new cells.  However, in a damaged liver this ability to regenerate can go wrong and the consequence can be uncontrolled over-production of altered and malignant cholangiocytes.

Evidence obtained by Dr Papa’s work suggested that the uncontrolled proliferation of cholangiocytes, driven by specific molecules in the liver, could be a cause in the development of an intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC)

Dr Papa plans on-going research to identify the molecular mechanisms that lead to this uncontrolled proliferation of malignant cholangiocytes.

Dr Gemma Choy, awarded a Research Fellowship by AMMF in 2014, has worked alongside Dr Papa on this cholangiocarcinoma research.

Dr Choy presented her work at the international meeting of the Digestive Disorders Federation in London in June 2015, and her AMMF supported work was also published in the GUT Journal during that year.

To see the abstract for the paper, “PTH-115 Inhibition of mapk signalling promotes cell cycle arrest and sensitises intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma cells to chemotherapy”, click here