Alpha-1-Antitrypsin inhibits acute liver failure in mice

Acute liver failure remains a critical clinical condition with high mortality rates, and increased apoptosis of hepatocytes represents a key event in the cause of liver failure. Alpha-1-Antitrypsin (AAT) is synthesized and secreted mainly by hepatocytes, and plasma purified AAT is used for augmentation therapy in patients with AAT deficiency. Because AAT therapy exerts anti-inflammatory and immune modulatory activities in various experimental models and it was recently suggested that AAT exerts anti-apoptotic activities, we aimed to explore whether administration of AAT may represent a therapeutic strategy to tr…