Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Promotes Proliferation of Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-Positive Cells in Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

© 2019 Indian National Association for Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved..

AIM: An impaired hepatocyte proliferation during severe liver injury causes the proliferation of hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs), also called as the ductular reaction (DR). In the present study, we studied the role of key angiogenic factors in HPC-mediated DR in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

METHODS: Liver biopsies from patients with NASH (n = 14) were included in the study. Patients with NASH were divided in two groups, early and late fibrosis (based on fibrosis staging). Biopsies were used to analyze the gene expression by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for two markers of DR, viz, CK19 and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM). Cocultures were performed between steatotic human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and LX2 and Huh7 cells. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were performed to measure levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in coculture studies. Next, Huh7 cells were treated with VEGF, and proliferation was investigated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium (MTT) assays. The number of EpCAM-positive cells was analyzed by flow cytometry.

RESULTS: Of all the angiogenic factors, the gene expression of VEGF and angiopoietin 2 (Ang2) was significantly different between patients with NASH in the early and late fibrosis groups (P < 0.05 for both). Both VEGF and Ang2 also correlated significantly with the IHC scores of CK19 and EpCAM in the study group. In the in vitro studies, VEGF levels were significantly increased when Huh7 cells were cocultured with steatotic HUVECs and LX2 cells. The proliferation and percentage of EpCAM-positive cells was increased when Huh7 cells were treated with VEGF.

CONCLUSION: Our study indicates an important contribution of VEGF toward the activation of HPC-mediated regeneration and DR in NASH.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2020

Erschienen:

2020

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:10

Enthalten in:

Journal of clinical and experimental hepatology - 10(2020), 4 vom: 10. Juli, Seite 275-283

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Siddiqui, Hamda [VerfasserIn]
Rawal, Preety [VerfasserIn]
Bihari, Chaggan [VerfasserIn]
Arora, Naveen [VerfasserIn]
Kaur, Savneet [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Ang2, angiopoietin 2
Angiogenesis
BSA, bovine serum albumin
CM, conditioned medium
DMEM, Dulbecco's Modified Eagle medium
DR, ductular reaction
Ductular reaction
ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
EpCAM, epithelial cell adhesion molecule
FBS, fetal bovine serum
H&E, hematoxylin and eosin
HPC, hepatic progenitor cell
HSC, hepatic stellate cell
HUVEC, human umbilical vein endothelial cell
Hepatic progenitor cells
IHC, immunohistochemical
Journal Article
MT, Masson trichrome
NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
NASH, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis
PCR, polymerase chain reaction
VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 15.04.2022

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.jceh.2019.11.011

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM312319304