Studying inflammatory liver disease
Patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) often develop liver failure and the risk of cancer is high. Annika Bergquist hopes her research will add to the understanding of the disease and lead to more efficacious treatment. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.
Text: Karin Tideström, for KI’s installation ceremony booklet 2024
What are you researching?
“My research concerns a chronic, uncommon liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC. This is a serious autoimmune inflammatory disease affecting the bile ducts, and is often associated with inflammatory bowel disease. After a prolonged period of illness, people with PSC tend to develop liver cirrhosis and often end up needing a liver transplant. They also have a high cancer risk. We’re trying to get a better understanding of the disease, why it develops and how it can be treated.”
What have been your most important results so far?
“We’ve learnt a lot about the pathological trajectory and are better now at assessing risk and predicting a patient’s prognosis. We also have a better grasp of the immunological mechanisms contributing to the disease.”
What’s your next step?
“We’re currently working on a large treatment study on the effect of statins on the disease trajectory and studying whether statins can suppress the development of the disease and reduce the risk of cancer and the need for liver transplantation. The study will involve 550 participants. Throughout my career, we’ve also been collecting data and samples for a biobank, which we’re now able to use. We hope that by analysing blood and searching for biomarkers, we’ll be able to get a better understanding of the disease process.”
How do you hope your results will be used?
“I hope that they’ll lead to more efficacious therapies and provide a better understanding of the factors that are important both to the life quality of those affected and to the pathological process.”
About Annika Bergquist
Professor of Gastroenterology, specialising in Hepatology at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge
Annika Bergquist was born in 1966 in Stockholm. She took her medical degree at Karolinska Institutet in 1992 and earned a PhD in 2002 with a thesis on bile duct cancer in PSC. In 2013 she was made adjunct professor. Annika Bergquist holds a combined professorship and is clinically active part-time as a consultant at Karolinska University Hospital. She is currently chair of the Swedish Society of Gastroenterology and director of the Centre for Innovative Medicine (CIMED). Annika Bergquist was appointed Professor of Gastroenterology, specialising in Hepatology at Karolinska Institutet on 10 October 2023.