Anna Mae Diehl

Florence McAlister Distinguished Professor of Medicine

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.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Florence McAlister Distinguished Professor of Medicine
  • Professor of Medicine
  • Affiliate of the Duke Regeneration Center
  • Member of the Duke Cancer Institute

Contact Information

  • Email Address: diehl004@mc.duke.edu

Education

  • M.D. Georgetown University, 1978
  • Johns Hopkins University, 1981
  • Johns Hopkins University, 1984

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • AASLD Distinguished Achievement Award. American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. 2012
  • MERIT Award. National Institutes of Health. 2009

Courses Taught

  • MGM 593: Research Independent Study
  • MGM 293: Research Independent Study I

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Omenetti, A., Y. Popov, Y. Jung, S. S. Choi, R. P. Witek, L. Yang, K. D. Brown, D. Schuppan, and A. M. Diehl. “The hedgehog pathway regulates remodelling responses to biliary obstruction in rats.” Gut 57, no. 9 (September 2008): 1275–82. https://doi.org/10.1136/gut.2008.148619.
  • Yang, Liu, Youngmi Jung, Alessia Omenetti, Rafal P. Witek, Steve Choi, Hendrika M. Vandongen, Jiawen Huang, Gianfranco D. Alpini, and Anna Mae Diehl. “Fate-mapping evidence that hepatic stellate cells are epithelial progenitors in adult mouse livers.” Stem Cells 26, no. 8 (August 2008): 2104–13. https://doi.org/10.1634/stemcells.2008-0115.
  • Ouyang, Xiaosen, Pietro Cirillo, Yuri Sautin, Shannon McCall, James L. Bruchette, Anna Mae Diehl, Richard J. Johnson, and Manal F. Abdelmalek. “Fructose consumption as a risk factor for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.” J Hepatol 48, no. 6 (June 2008): 993–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2008.02.011.
  • Jung, Youngmi, Kevin D. Brown, Rafal P. Witek, Alessia Omenetti, Liu Yang, Margon Vandongen, Richard J. Milton, et al. “Accumulation of hedgehog-responsive progenitors parallels alcoholic liver disease severity in mice and humans.” Gastroenterology 134, no. 5 (May 2008): 1532–43. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2008.02.022.
  • Solga, Steven F., Alena Horska, Susanne Hemker, Stephen Crawford, Charalett Diggs, Anna Mae Diehl, Frederick L. Brancati, and Jeanne M. Clark. “Hepatic fat and adenosine triphosphate measurement in overweight and obese adults using 1H and 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy.” Liver Int 28, no. 5 (May 2008): 675–81. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-3231.2008.01705.x.
  • Omenetti, Alessia, and Anna Mae Diehl. “The adventures of sonic hedgehog in development and repair. II. Sonic hedgehog and liver development, inflammation, and cancer.” Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 294, no. 3 (March 2008): G595–98. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00543.2007.
  • Yamaguchi, Kanji, Liu Yang, Shannon McCall, Jiawen Huang, Xing Xian Yu, Sanjay K. Pandey, Sanjay Bhanot, Brett P. Monia, Yin-Xiong Li, and Anna Mae Diehl. “Diacylglycerol acyltranferase 1 anti-sense oligonucleotides reduce hepatic fibrosis in mice with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.” Hepatology 47, no. 2 (February 2008): 625–35. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.21988.
  • Yang, Liu, Ying Wang, Hua Mao, Susanne Fleig, Alessia Omenetti, Kevin D. Brown, Jason K. Sicklick, Yin-Xiong Li, and Anna Mae Diehl. “Sonic hedgehog is an autocrine viability factor for myofibroblastic hepatic stellate cells.” J Hepatol 48, no. 1 (January 2008): 98–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2007.07.032.
  • Fleig, Susanne V., Steve S. Choi, Liu Yang, Youngmi Jung, Alessia Omenetti, Hendrika M. VanDongen, Jiawen Huang, Jason K. Sicklick, and Anna Mae Diehl. “Hepatic accumulation of Hedgehog-reactive progenitors increases with severity of fatty liver damage in mice.” Lab Invest 87, no. 12 (December 2007): 1227–39. https://doi.org/10.1038/labinvest.3700689.
  • Abdelmalek, Manal F., and Anna Mae Diehl. “De novo nonalcoholic fatty liver disease after liver transplantation.” Liver Transpl 13, no. 6 (June 2007): 788–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/lt.21103.
  • Yamaguchi, Kanji, Liu Yang, Shannon McCall, Jiawen Huang, Xing Xian Yu, Sanjay K. Pandey, Sanjay Bhanot, Brett P. Monia, Yin-Xiong Li, and Anna Mae Diehl. “Inhibiting triglyceride synthesis improves hepatic steatosis but exacerbates liver damage and fibrosis in obese mice with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.” Hepatology 45, no. 6 (June 2007): 1366–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.21655.
  • Jung, Youngmi, Shannon J. McCall, Yin-Xiong Li, and Anna Mae Diehl. “Bile ductules and stromal cells express hedgehog ligands and/or hedgehog target genes in primary biliary cirrhosis.” Hepatology 45, no. 5 (May 2007): 1091–96. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.21660.
  • Li, Yin-Xiong, Hai-Tao Yang, Marzena Zdanowicz, Jason K. Sicklick, Yi Qi, Terese J. Camp, and Anna Mae Diehl. “Fetal alcohol exposure impairs Hedgehog cholesterol modification and signaling.” Lab Invest 87, no. 3 (March 2007): 231–40. https://doi.org/10.1038/labinvest.3700516.
  • Zhao, Caiyan, Wei Chen, Liu Yang, Lihong Chen, Stephen A. Stimpson, and Anna Mae Diehl. “PPARgamma agonists prevent TGFbeta1/Smad3-signaling in human hepatic stellate cells.” Biochem Biophys Res Commun 350, no. 2 (November 17, 2006): 385–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.09.069.
  • Sicklick, Jason K., Steve S. Choi, Marcia Bustamante, Shannon J. McCall, Elizabeth Hernández Pérez, Jiawen Huang, Yin-Xiong Li, Marcos Rojkind, and Anna Mae Diehl. “Evidence for epithelial-mesenchymal transitions in adult liver cells.” Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 291, no. 4 (October 2006): G575–83. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00102.2006.
  • Setji, Tracy L., Nicole D. Holland, Linda L. Sanders, Kathy C. Pereira, Anna Mae Diehl, and Ann J. Brown. “Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and nonalcoholic Fatty liver disease in young women with polycystic ovary syndrome.” J Clin Endocrinol Metab 91, no. 5 (May 2006): 1741–47. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2005-2774.