Lifu Zhu
Environmental health researcher at Anhui Medical University and first author of a 2026 mouse study on how the solvent trichloroethylene damages the liver when the LKB1/AMPK energy sensor is missing
Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University (at the time of the study, 2026)
Trichloroethylene is an industrial solvent used to degrease metal, and workers exposed to it can develop liver injury. Lifu Zhu's 2026 study, with J. Zhang as senior author, asked why some livers are hit harder. The focus was LKB1 and AMPK, a pair of enzymes that sense low energy in the cell and normally hold mTOR in check.
In mice lacking LKB1/AMPK, trichloroethylene caused worse liver injury. mTOR-regulated mitophagy, the clean-up of damaged mitochondria, failed, and mitochondrial DNA leaked out of the mitochondria, where it can trigger inflammation. Rapamycin, which blocks mTOR, and drugs that activate AMPK protected the liver. The work is in mice only, with no human data, and suggests the LKB1/AMPK/mTOR axis as a possible target.
PubMed lists Lifu Zhu at the Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University in Hefei. A current position could not be confirmed from an official page.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | A | LKB1/AMPK deficiency aggravates mitochondrial DNA leakage via mTOR-dependent mitophagy damage in liver injury sensitized by trichloroethylene. ZHU2026 First author: showed in mice that LKB1/AMPK loss worsens trichloroethylene liver injury by impairing mTOR-regulated mitophagy, and that rapamycin or AMPK activation protects. |
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