Development of Gap Junction Inhibition Therapy for Alcoholic Liver Disease

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Alcoholic liver disease is a highly prevalent and costly condition affecting millions of people globally. Alcohol results in high morbidity and mortality an is responsible for nearly 4% of all deaths worldwide. Despite the tremendous societal and economic burden, there is no approved therapeutics for alcoholic liver disease. Instead, the standard of care involves off-label administration of nonspecific corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, and antioxidants. There isa desperate need for liver-specific therapeutics that can be used to treat acute and chronic alcoholic liver disease. Heprotech was founded to commercialize therapeutics based on inhibition of gap junction communication in the liver. We have demonstratedthat liver-specific gap junctions composed of connexin 32 (Cx32) are essential to the pathogenesis of acute and chronic liver injury. We first showed that inhibitors of Cx32 gap junctions protect and rescue mice from drug-induced hepatotoxicity. Next we f