UA engineer collaborates on effective treatment for liver disease

Known as a silent killer, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has no symptoms and is estimated to affect approximately one-third of Americans. The majority of those affected are completely unaware that their livers are slowly failing. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is caused by accumulating fat cells in the liver, interrupting its normal function, activating inflammation, and when left unchecked leads to liver fibrosis and eventually liver failure.

Like most patients, Dr. Yang Yun, associate professor of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Akron, was diagnosed with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in 2009 during a routine blood test. Because it was caught early, changes in his diet and exercise routine helped return his liver function to normal.

Five years after his diagnosis, Yun was granted an academic enrichment leave at Pusan National University (PNU) in Busan, Korea, where he and his collaborators were able to develop a possible therapy. Yun worked with Dr. Youngmi Jung, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology at PNU, and a team of faculty and in microbiology, polymer science and biomedical engineering.

Together, Yun’s research on nanomedicine using biodegradable polymers and Jung’s theory that liver fibrosis can be prevented by modifying genes linked to the disease, resulted in a single treatment eliminated fibrosis in mice. The results of this research have been published in Nature Communications.

Media contacts: Sarah Steidl, 330-972-8142 or steidl@uakron.edu .