Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Hepatitis - Liver Disease / 13.05.2025
Role of Genetic Research in Advancing PSC Treatment
MedicalResearch.com discussion with:
Dr. Bertus Eksteen PhD, MBChB, FRCP
Founder of the Calgary PSC Clinic
Member of the Calgary Liver Unit and the Southern Alberta Liver Transplant Clinic
Aspen Woods Clinic
Calgary, Canada
Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a liver disease characterized by progressive inflammation and scarring of the bile ducts. PSC still has no known cause or cure and often leads to liver failure or cancer. For patients and clinicians, the lack of answers is deeply frustrating. But that's beginning to change.
Thanks to genetic research, we’re uncovering clues about PSC’s origins—and why it behaves differently from patient to patient. By learning more about the genomic underpinnings of PSC, researchers can create new treatment targets, devise risk profiles for early diagnosis, and even develop better clinical tools for detecting the disease in its earliest stages.
And that path forward doesn’t just start with new treatments — it begins in the lab.