Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Effects and regulation of osteopontin in rat hepatic stellate cells

2004; Elsevier BV; Volume: 68; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.bcp.2004.08.022

1873-2968

Sung Hee Lee, Geom Seog Seo, Young Nyun Park, Tae Moo Yoo, Dong Hwan Sohn,

Pancreatitis Pathology and Treatment

Using a cDNA microarray, we identified osteopontin (OPN) as one of the genes upregulated in cultured activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Northern and western blot analyses showed that OPN was increasingly expressed during the progressive activation of cultured rat HSCs, and a significant increase in OPN was observed in carbon tetrachloride-induced rat liver fibrosis. In biliary atresia, OPN protein was predominantly expressed in Kupffer cells and HSCs in the necrotic areas. Incubation of HSCs with recombinant OPN-induced significant proliferative and migratory effects, and induced matrix metalloproteinase 2 production and activation. Moreover, OPN increased type I collagen production and type II transforming growth factor-β receptor mRNA and protein. In conclusion, this study shows that OPN is expressed in activated HSCs and suggests that the upregulation of OPN might be a central pathway of HSC activation.