Editorial Volume 12, Issue 20 pp 19828—19829

Figure 1. Summary scheme of the cholesterol-mediated hepatocyte and stellate cell crosstalk pathway in NASH. (A) In NASH, elevated cholesterol upregulates TAZ in hepatocytes, and TAZ activates hepatic stellate cells by inducing Ihh. (B) In hepatocyte, ASTER-B/C-mediated plasma membrane cholesterol internalization activates PKA and calcium signaling through soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC). The resulting increase in RhoA activity inhibits LATS1/2 and promotes TAZ nucleus translocation. As a transcription factor, high level of TAZ enhances Ihh mRNA expression.