Irina A. Kirpich, PhD, MPH

 

 

Research Interests

  • Alcohol-associated liver disease: mechanisms of development and progression 
  • Bioactive lipid mediators: role in liver injury and resolution of inflammation
  • Soluble epoxide hydrolase in liver pathology
  • Gut-liver axis: intestinal barrier, gut microbiome and bacteria-derived molecules

Dr. Kirpich's laboratory has a long-standing research interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms of alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) development and progression, identifying new biomarkers of the disease and novel therapeutic targets. We explore the role of bioactive lipid mediators in mechanisms underlying liver injury, inflammation development and resolution. The novel focus of our group is to investigate the enzyme soluble epoxide hydrolase (s-EH) and s-EH inhibition as a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of ALD. Our laboratory has also a particular interest in ethanol-induced changes of the gut microbiota, bacteria-derived molecules, and their contribution to the intestinal permeability and liver injury. We employ integrated OMICs (microbiome, metabolome and lipidome) approach, cell culture and animal-based mechanistic studies. The research projects integrate basic, translational and clinical studies. Our program is supported by NIH grants.

 

Selected Publications

Hardesty J., Day L., Warner J., Warner D., Gritsenko M., Asghar A., Stolz A., Morgan T., McClain C., Jacobs J., KirpichI. Hepatic protein and phosphoprotein signatures of alcohol-associated cirrhosis and hepatitis. AJP. 2022 PMID: 35490715

Warner J., Larsen I., Hardesty J., Song Y., Warner D., McClain C., Sun R., Deng Z., Jensen B., Kirpich I. Human beta defensin 2 ameliorated experimental alcohol-associated liver disease in mMice and was associated with immunomodulation of the gut-liver axis and modification of intestinal microbiota. Front. in Physiology, 2022, PMID: 35153819

Warner J., Hardesty J., Song Y., Sun R., Deng Z., Xu R., Yin X., Zhang X., McClain C., Warner D., Kirpich I. Fat-1 transgenic mice with augmented n3-polyunsaturated fatty acids are protected from liver injury caused by acute-on-chronic ethanol administration. Front. Pharmacol., 2021, PMID: 34531743

Warner D., Warner J., Hardesty J., Song Y., King T., Kang J., Chen C., Xie S., Yuan F., I.M. Prodhan, Ma X., Zhang X., Rouchka E., Whitlock J., Li E., Wang G., McClain C., KirpichI. Beneficial effects of decreased omega-6:omega-3 PUFA ratio on intestinal homeostasis and microbiota are linked to the improvement of liver injury associated with ethanol and LPS administration in mice. J Lipid Res. 2019, PMID:31586017

 

For complete list of published work, please visit MyBibliography link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1VaL-S5P4HZQE/bibliography/public/