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World J Exp Med. Mar 20, 2026; 16(1): 114313
Published online Mar 20, 2026. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v16.i1.114313
Published online Mar 20, 2026. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v16.i1.114313
Abnormalities of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in primary biliary cholangitis
Evangelos Thalassinos, Department of Medicine, Venizeleion General Hospital, Heraklion 71409, Crete, Greece
George Notas, Laboratory of Experimental Endocrinology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Voutes Campus, Heraklion 70013, Crete, Greece
Costantinos Xidakis, Ourania Sfakianaki, Ioannis Tsomidis, Elias Kouroumalis, Laboratory of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Voutes Campus, Heraklion 70013, Crete, Greece
Ioannis Drygiannakis, Elias Kouroumalis, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital, Heraklion 71500, Crete, Greece
Elias Kouroumalis, Liver Research Laboratory, University of Crete Medical School, Heraklion 71003, Crete, Greece
Co-first authors: Evangelos Thalassinos and George Notas.
Author contributions: Thalassinos E and Kouroumalis E were involved in conceptualizing the study; Thalassinos E and Notas G contributed equally to this manuscript as co-first authors; Thalassinos E, Kouroumalis E, Notas G, Xidakis C, and Drygiannakis I involved in writing the draft; Notas G, Xidakis C, and Drygiannakis I were responsible for the data acquisition and statistical analysis; Sfakianaki O and Tsomidis I were involved in the revision of the draft. All authors approved the final version of the paper prior to submission.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Venizeleion General Hospital.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Elias Kouroumalis, MD, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Liver Research Laboratory, University of Crete Medical School, 13 Kalokerinou Street, Voutes, Heraklion 71003, Greece. kouroumi@uoc.gr
Received: September 18, 2025
Revised: October 19, 2025
Accepted: January 5, 2026
Published online: March 20, 2026
Processing time: 180 Days and 14.3 Hours
Revised: October 19, 2025
Accepted: January 5, 2026
Published online: March 20, 2026
Processing time: 180 Days and 14.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) are implicated in the pathogenesis of various liver diseases including primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). In the present study, we demonstrated that LSECs biomarkers are significantly altered in the serum of patients with PBC but also in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus. Moreover, we incubated the human endothelial cell line EA.hy926 with sera from patients with PBC and hepatitis C virus and found that the expression of endothelins and their receptors significantly fluctuated at different time points. Collectively, these findings indicate that LSECs may be implicated in the pathogenesis of PBC.