Fat Storing Cells and Liver Fibrosis (Falk Symposium)

The field of liver fibrosis has become of great interest in the last decade. Although knowledge of the mechanisms leading to liver fibrogenesis and fibrosis has dramatically improved during the last 3--4 years, we are still at the edge of the truth. Several reports have stressed the role of nonparenchymal cells as the main producers of hepatic extra-cellular matrix. In particular, fat-storing cells (also known as Ito cells or lipocytes or perisinusoidal stellate cells) have been recently shown to play a major role in this process. The Falk Symposium No. 71 was dedicated to basic science and clinical aspects of fat storing cells and liver fibrosis, and brought together an international group of investigators to highlight unsolved problems and to discuss common strategies of research.