Polycystic liver diseases: from molecular basis to development of effective treatments.

Polycystic liver diseases (PLDs) comprise a heterogeneous group of congenital genetic disorders that mainly affect bile duct epithelial cells, known as cholangiocytes. Patients with PLD usually present bile duct dilatation and/or progressive develop intrahepatic, fluid-filled biliary cysts (more than 10), which is the main cause of morbidity.

New Role for LRR-Receptor Kinase in Sensing of Reactive Oxygen Species.

Understanding how reactive oxygen species (ROS) are sensed could help engineer plants with better stress responses that are relying on the production of ROS. Here, we summarize the latest research in ROS signaling with focus on the discovery by Wu et al. of a leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase (LRR-RK) as a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) sensor.