https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(08)00429-0/pdf

Mechanisms of Hepatic Fibrogenesis

The hepatic stellate cell has surprised and engaged physiologists, pathologists, and hepatologists for over 130 years, yet clear evidence of its role in hepatic injury and fibrosis only emerged following the refinement of methods for its isolation and characterization. The paradigm in liver injury of activation of quiescent vitamin A-rich stellate cells into proliferative, contractile, and fibrogenic myofibroblasts has launched an era of astonishing progress in understanding the mechanistic basis of hepatic fibrosis progression and regression. But this simple paradigm has now yielded to a remarkably broad appreciation of the cell's functions not only in liver injury, but also in hepatic development, regeneration, xenobiotic responses, intermediary metabolism, and immunoregulation. Among the most exciting prospects is that stellate cells are essential for hepatic progenitor cell amplification and differentiation. Equally intriguing is the remarkable plasticity of stellate cells, not only in their variable intermediate filament phenotype, but also in their functions. Stellate cells can be viewed as the nexus in a complex sinusoidal milieu that requires tightly regulated autocrine and paracrine cross-talk, rapid responses to evolving extracellular matrix content, and exquisite responsiveness to the metabolic needs imposed by liver growth and repair. Moreover, roles vital to systemic homeostasis include their storage and mobilization of retinoids, their emerging capacity for antigen presentation and induction of tolerance, as well as their emerging relationship to bone marrow-derived cells. As interest in this cell type intensifies, more surprises and mysteries are sure to unfold that will ultimately benefit our understanding of liver physiology and the diagnosis and treatment of liver disease.

/pdf/hepatic-stellate-cells-protean-multifunctional-and-enigmatic-1ctrvjmfhn.pdf

Hepatic Stellate Cells: Protean, Multifunctional, and Enigmatic Cells of the Liver

Senescence of activated stellate cells limits liver fibrosis

http://demystifyingmedicine.od.nih.gov/DM15/m3d17/reading01.pdf

Alcoholic Liver Disease: Pathogenesis and New Therapeutic Targets

Liver fibrosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide due to chronic viral hepatitis and, more recently, from fatty liver disease associated with obesity. Hepatic stellate cell activation represents a critical event in fibrosis because these cells become the primary source of extracellular matrix in liver upon injury. Use of cell-culture and animal models has expanded our understanding of the mechanisms underlying stellate cell activation and has shed new light on genetic regulation, the contribution of immune signaling, and the potential reversibility of the disease. As pathways of fibrogenesis are increasingly clarified, the key challenge will be translating new advances into the development of antifibrotic therapies for patients with chronic liver disease.

Pathogenesis of liver fibrosis.

https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(05)02231-6/pdf

Natural killer cells ameliorate liver fibrosis by killing activated stellate cells in NKG2D-dependent and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand-dependent manners

The biological effects of low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR) exposure in humans are not comprehensively understood, generating a high degree of controversy in published literature. The earliest stages of human development are known to be among the most sensitive to stress exposures, especially genotoxic stresses. However, the risks stemming from exposure to LDIR, particularly within the clinical diagnostic relevant dose range, have not been directly evaluated in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Here, we describe the dynamics of the whole genome transcriptional responses of different hESC lines to both LDIR and, as a reference, high-dose IR (HDIR). We found that even doses as low as 0.05 Gy could trigger statistically significant transient changes in a rather limited subset of genes in all hESCs lines examined. Gene expression signatures of hESCs exposed to IR appear to be highly dose-, time-, and cell line-dependent. We identified 50 genes constituting consensus gene expression signature as an early response to HDIR across all lines of hESC examined. We observed substantial differences in biological pathways affected by either LDIR or HDIR in hESCs, suggesting that the molecular mechanisms underpinning the responses of hESC may fundamentally differ depending on radiation doses.

Comparative Analysis of Whole-Genome Gene Expression Changes in Cultured Human Embryonic Stem Cells in Response to Low, Clinical Diagnostic Relevant, and High Doses of Ionizing Radiation Exposure

Ionizing radiation (IR) is a known mutagen that is widely employed for medical diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. To study the extent of genetic variations in DNA caused by IR, we used IR-sensitive human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Four hESC cell lines, H1, H7, H9, and H14, were subjected to IR at 0.2 or 1 Gy dose and then maintained in culture for four days before being harvested for DNA isolation. Irradiation with 1 Gy dose resulted in significant cell death, ranging from 60% to 90% reduction in cell population. Since IR is often implicated as a risk for inducing cancer, a primer pool targeting genomic “hotspot” regions that are frequently mutated in human cancer genes was used to generate libraries from irradiated and control samples. Using a semiconductor-based next-generation sequencing approach, we were able to consistently sequence these samples with deep coverage for reliable data analysis. A possible rare nucleotide variant was identified in the KIT gene (chr4:55593481) exclusively in H1 hESCs irradiated with 1 Gy dose. More extensive further studies are warranted to assess the extent and distribution of genetic changes in hESCs after IR exposure.

/pdf/a-genomic-study-of-dna-alteration-events-caused-by-ionizing-2nhwa0864c.pdf

Van Nguyen

Papers

Natural killer cells ameliorate liver fibrosis by killing activated stellate cells in NKG2D-dependent and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand-dependent manners

Comparative Analysis of Whole-Genome Gene Expression Changes in Cultured Human Embryonic Stem Cells in Response to Low, Clinical Diagnostic Relevant, and High Doses of Ionizing Radiation Exposure

A Genomic Study of DNA Alteration Events Caused by Ionizing Radiation in Human Embryonic Stem Cells via Next-Generation Sequencing.