The role of intermediateted filament proteins in hepatic stellate cells in the development of liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma

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(A) Expression of Intermediate filament proteins by rat hepatic stellate cells.Expression of intermediated filament proteins in rat normal or cirrhotic liver tissues was investigated. In normal liver, GFAP, desmin, vimentin and synemin were expressed by hepatic stellate cells. In cirrhotic liver, expression of GFAP and synemin was down-regulated and expression of desmin and vimentin was up-regulated. Isolated stellate cells from rat liver are thought to be activated during the culture on the plastic dish. Expression of GFAP and synemin was down-regulated and expression of desmin and vimentin was up-regulated during the culture. So, we found that quiescent rat stellate cells express synmin and GFAP and activated stellate cells express desmin and vimentin.(B) Expression of Intermediate filament proteins by human hepatic stellate cells.Expression of GFAP, synemin, desmin and vimentin in human normal or cirrhotic liver tissues was investigated. In normal liver, vimentin and synemin were expressed by hepatic stellate cells. However, desmin and GFAP were not expressed by hepatic stellate cells. In cirrhotic liver, expression of synemin was down-regulated and expression of vimentin was up-regulated. In LX-2 cells, cell line of stellate cells, Expression of vimentin, but not synemin, detected. So, we found that synmin and vimentin play a key role to regulate the activation of hepatic stellate cells.(C) The role of vimentin in human hepatic stellate cells.We investigated the role of vimentin in human hepatic stellate cells. Expression of vimentin in LX-2 cells were down regulated by 85% of control by siRNAs. Depletion of vimentin did not affect the ability to proliferate and the expression of type I collagen. In the future, we will investigate the function of vimentin in human hepatic stellate cells again by other methods.