What liver research gap did this study address?

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare, long-term liver disease in which inflammation and scarring slowly narrow the bile ducts. Its course differs greatly between people: some remain stable for years, while others progress to cirrhosis, need a liver transplant, or develop cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Cancer is the leading cause of death in PSC, and CCA develops in about 7-20% of people with PSC over their lifetime. CCA is often found late, because current tools (the blood marker CA19-9 and imaging) struggle to tell cancer apart from PSC-related inflammation and scarring. Around 70% of people with PSC also live with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Existing tools cannot yet reliably predict how an individual’s PSC will progress, partly because the biology driving progression is poorly understood. Earlier studies usually examined one type of molecule at a time.