What is Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis?
Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic, autoimmune disease that primarily affects the bile ducts, both inside and outside the liver.
The disease leads to inflammation in the bile ducts (cholangitis) and stiffening of the liver tissue (sclerosis), that in turn leads to irregularities and strictures in the bile ducts.
Over time the strictures will damage the liver, caused by a combination of the ongoing inflammation and the accumulatuon of bile in the ducts.
The damage to the liver is the reason why many perople with PSC at some point will need a liver transplantation. Even if the disease is rare it is still one of the most common indications for liver transplantations in Norway.
Research groups
There are five research groups at NoPSC. Three at UiO/Oslo University Hospital, one at UiO/ Akershus University Hospital and one at Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital in Bergen.
The five groups focus on different aspects of PSC. They complement each other and work together to increase the understanding of disease causes and mechanisms, and develop tools for diagnosis and treatment.
Experimental Hepatology
- Group leader Professor Espen Melum
Genomics and Metagenomics in Inflammatory Disorders
- Group leader Professor Johannes Hov
Clinical Liver research at UiO/OUH
- Group leader Associate Professor Trine Folseraas
Clinical Liver Research at Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital in Bergen
- Group leader Professor Mette Vesterhus
Clinical Liver Research at UiO/Akershus University Hospital
- Group leader Professor Kristin Kaasen Jørgensen
If you are interested in working with us, please get in touch.
Biobank
Since before 2008 NoPSC has collected biological material from people with PSC and other liver or bile duct diseases.
This is the basis of our state-of-the-art biobank, where every sample is traceable throughout the system and both clinical parameters and biological materials are registered.
Standard Operating Prosedures used to collect and process the samples are also registered in the biobank.
You can find our key sampling procedures here (OUH).
Per 2026 we have a comprehensive PSC biobank containing more than 179.000 registered samples of serum, plasma, urine, bile, DNA, RNA, faeces, cells and tissue, from more than 2680 individuals.