Creation of liver research center pushed
FOR years, liver diseases have been overlooked since it is always the cardiovascular, infectious, and other diseases that were always talked about and cautioned to the public.
Out of 1,000 deaths in the country, 27.3 deaths are caused by liver diseases, according to the 2020 data by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“We also have to consider that liver [diseases are] now becoming [the] leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the country, and we really have to address it,” said Dr. Jaime C. Montoya, executive director of the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Health and Research Development (DOST-PCHRD) at a press briefing on March 25 The Philippines is one of the countries that has the highest prevalence of Hepatitis B infection in the region and the world, Montoya said, together with Vietnam.
Claudio Tiribelli, scientific director of Fondazione Italiana Fegator (FIF), revealed that a lot of liver diseases are related to obesity and metabolic disease.
“If you have an obese adolescent, the chances to have severe problems in the future are huge... It’s been calculated that 20 years from now, the major indication of liver transplantation will be metabolic-related liver disease of adolescents now,” Tiribelli said.
“We need to put a lot of effort to prevent this plague,” Tiribelli added.
‘From the center to the periphery’
CURRENTLY, there is no specialty hospital for liver diseases in the Philippines, but there are government-owned and -controlled corporation hospitals, such as the Philippine Heart Center, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Lung Center of the Philippines and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center.
Although there is a lack of a specialty hospital in the country, Montoya said there are liver specialists in various hospitals.
Montoya said there is a possibility of having a specialty hospital solely for the liver soon through the Philippine Liver Network and if the Department of Health sees the wisdom of having one.
Tribelli agreed to have specialized centers for liver to lessen the burden on patients, comparing it to Italy where patients have to travel from north to south just to be treated.
Tribelli said information in treating liver diseases has to move from the center to the periphery, moving all over the country, to reach the patients in the province.
Executive Director Dr. Eva Cutiongco-de la Paz of the University of the Philippines Manila-national Institute of Health (UPM-NIH) said the institute, located right next to the Up-philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), is tasked to set up a center for liver research so that research and clinical care would go hand in hand.
“We don’t want anyone to travel to Manila to go to PGH or to other major private hospitals to get their care. The Philippine Liver Network [PLN] hopes to make all the regions equip with people who can do the clinical care as well as help in the research,” Cutiongcode la Paz said.
Philippine Liver Network
THE PLN was established in 2021 after the signing of a tripartite agreement by the DOST-PCHRD, UPM and FIF.
The network will facilitate research collaborations to address the lack of evidence and research on liver diseases, despite its significant burden among Filipinos, the DOST-PCHRD said.
Through the agreement, the parties will cooperate in enabling research on the applications of “Omic” technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) for liver research, as well as animal and non-animal models for liver diseases.
Omics refers to a field of study in life sciences that focuses on large-scale data/information to understand life, such as proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, etc., the United States National Institutes of Health website said.
The DOST-PCHRD has supported four completed projects that approach liver cancer diagnosis, hepatitis stigma, hyperbilirubinemia screening, and the development of the Philippine Liver Research Program.
An Ai-driven liver cancer diagnosis, liquid biopsy for liver cancer, and the development of a data registry for liver are ongoing projects implemented by the DOST-PCHRD.
Promoting Healthy Filipino Liver (Philliver) is also a newly approved program of the DOSTPCHRD through the Interdisciplinary Innovative Research, funded by the DOST Grants-inaid Program.
The DOST-PCHRD said UPM will develop the Philliver biobank, which will be used for the study of liver diseases, identify biomarkers for viral hepatitis, determine metabolic markers for chronic liver disease, and examine the liver condition of people living with HIV disease in the country.
Cutiongco-de la Paz highlighted the importance of doing liver research, adding that 10 percent, or about 10 million Filipinos, can be affected by Hepatitis B but there are more problems to be concerned with.
She added that besides alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, pediatric liver diseases, such as neonatal hepatitis, and biliary atresia are emerging in the country.
“Sa pamamagitan po ng [Through the] Philippine Liver Network, magkakaroon po tayo ng oportunidad na [we will have an opportunity] to build the capacity of researchers within the network of academic, research institutions, [and] clinicians, to be able to do liver research,” Cutiongco-de la Paz said.
Through the liver network, Cutiangco-de la Paz said health policies on the liver will be developed and it will allow multi-specialty collaborations, wherein two or more doctors will handle cases of liver diseases.
Promote human well-being, wealth creation
SCIENCE Secretary Dr. Renato U. Solidum Jr. said that part of DOST’S thrust is collaboration in order to develop the liver network in the Philippines, which would be beneficial to Filipinos as this would hit two birds with one stone.
Solidum said two of DOST’S strategic thrusts—promotion of human well-being and wealth creation—would be achieved through the liver network.
To sustain the country’s social and economic development, Solidum said healthy Filipinos are the key.
“Out of these different healthrelated initiatives, products and services, we can actually develop a certain income stream so that [while] we promote addressing health issues, we can also develop our own [health technologies] that will address the concerns of Filipinos and also other parts of the world,” Solidum said.