Gastroenterology

Anna Mae Diehl, MD

Professor of Medicine
Florence McAlister Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
Affiliate of the Regeneration Next Initiative
Campus mail Duke Box 3256, 905 S. Lasalle Street, GSRB 1, Durham, NC 27710
Phone (919) 684-2366
Email address diehl004@mc.duke.edu

Our lab has a long standing interest in liver injury and repair. To learn more about the mechanisms that regulate this process, we study cultured cells, animal models of acute and chronic liver damage and samples from patients with various types of liver disease. Our group also conducts clinical trials in patients with chronic liver disease. We are particularly interested in fatty liver diseases, such as alcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Research by our group has advanced understanding in two main areas: 1) immune system regulation of liver injury and regeneration and 2)the role of fetal morphogens, such as the hedgehog pathway, in regulating fibrotic responses to liver damage. Our basic research programs have been enjoyed continuous NIH support since 1989. We welcome students, post-doctoral fellows and visiting scientists who have interests in this research area to contact us about training opportunities and potential collaborations.

Since 2001 we have also been an active participant in the NIDDK-funded Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network (NASH CRN), a national consortium comprised of 8 university medical centers selected to generate a national registry for patients with NAFLD and to conduct multicenter treatment trials for this disorder. We are actively recruiting patients for this program, as well as a number of other industry-supported NAFLD studies.

In Their Words

Education and Training

  • Fellow in Gastroenterology, Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 1981 - 1984
  • Medical Resident, Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 1978 - 1981
  • M.D., Georgetown University, 1978

Grants

Publications

Hyun, Jeongeun, Zhaoli Sun, Ali Reza Ahmadi, Sushant Bangru, Ullas V. Chembazhi, Kuo Du, Tianyi Chen, et al. “Epithelial splicing regulatory protein 2-mediated alternative splicing reprograms hepatocytes in severe alcoholic hepatitis.” J Clin Invest 130, no. 4 (April 1, 2020): 2129–45. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI132691.

PMID
31945016
Full Text

Jewell, Mark L., Jason R. Gibson, Cynthia D. Guy, Jeongeun Hyun, Kuo Du, Seh-Hoon Oh, Richard T. Premont, et al. “Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Identifies Yes-Associated Protein 1-Dependent Hepatic Mesothelial Progenitors in Fibrolamellar Carcinoma.” Am J Pathol 190, no. 1 (January 2020): 93–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2019.09.018.

PMID
31669305
Full Text

Du, Kuo, Satish K. Chitneni, Ayako Suzuki, Ying Wang, Ricardo Henao, Jeongeun Hyun, Richard T. Premont, et al. “Increased Glutaminolysis Marks Active Scarring in Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Progression.” Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol 10, no. 1 (2020): 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmgh.2019.12.006.

PMID
31881361
Full Text

Maung, Ko, Sendhilnathan Ramalingam, Mohammad Chaudhry, Yi Ren, Sin-Ho Jung, Kristi Romero, Kelly Corbet, et al. “Pre-transplant hepatic steatosis (fatty liver) is associated with chronic graft-vs-host disease but not mortality.” Plos One 15, no. 9 (2020): e0238824. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238824.

PMID
32915853
Full Text

Win, Sanda, Robert Wm Min, Christopher Q. Chen, Jun Zhang, Yibu Chen, Meng Li, Ayako Suzuki, et al. “Expression of mitochondrial membrane-linked SAB determines severity of sex-dependent acute liver injury.” J Clin Invest 129, no. 12 (December 2, 2019): 5278–93. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI128289.

PMID
31487267
Full Text

Sanyal, Arun J., Stephen A. Harrison, Vlad Ratziu, Manal F. Abdelmalek, Anna Mae Diehl, Stephen Caldwell, Mitchell L. Shiffman, et al. “The Natural History of Advanced Fibrosis Due to Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis: Data From the Simtuzumab Trials.” Hepatology 70, no. 6 (December 2019): 1913–27. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.30664.

PMID
30993748
Full Text

Diehl, Anna Mae, Nathalie J. Farpour-Lambert, Liping Zhao, and Herbert Tilg. “Why we need to curb the emerging worldwide epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.” Nat Metab 1, no. 11 (November 2019): 1027–29. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-019-0140-x.

PMID
32694863
Full Text

Kleiner, David E., Elizabeth M. Brunt, Laura A. Wilson, Cynthia Behling, Cynthia Guy, Melissa Contos, Oscar Cummings, et al. “Association of Histologic Disease Activity With Progression of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.” Jama Netw Open 2, no. 10 (October 2, 2019): e1912565. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.12565.

PMID
31584681
Full Text

Albadrani, Muayad, Ratanesh K. Seth, Sutapa Sarkar, Diana Kimono, Ayan Mondal, Dipro Bose, Dwayne E. Porter, et al. “Exogenous PP2A inhibitor exacerbates the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease via NOX2-dependent activation of miR21.” Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 317, no. 4 (October 1, 2019): G408–28. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00061.2019.

PMID
31393787
Full Text

Loomba, Rohit, Anjali Jain, Anna Mae Diehl, Cynthia D. Guy, Dana Portenier, Ranjan Sudan, Seema Singh, et al. “Validation of Serum Test for Advanced Liver Fibrosis in Patients With Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis.” Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 17, no. 9 (August 2019): 1867-1876.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2018.11.004.

PMID
30448594
Full Text

Pages