title: In vitro generation of myofibroblasts-like cells from liver epithelial progenitor cells of rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta).
abstract: The origin of the myofibroblast, the primary effector cell of liver fibrosis, is still elusive. Here, we report that fluorescence-activated cell sorting purified E-cad + rhesus monkey liver epithelial progenitor cells (mLEPCs) may serve as a potential source for liver myofibroblasts. Adult mLEPCs colonies were cultured in medium containing 2 ng/ml transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) to induce differentiation. Phenotypic changes of cells were analyzed by morphological observation, immunostaining, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). After cultured with TGF-β and FBS, some cells in adult mLEPCs colonies converted to fibroblasts-like cells. Immunostaining showed that fibroblasts-like cells had acquired the expression of mesenchymal cell marker vimentin but lost the expression of epithelial cell marker CK8. Fibroblasts-like cells were maintained in culture for up to 40 passages. RT-PCR analysis revealed that fibroblasts-like cells had acquired the expression of mesenchymal genes (snail, PAI-1, and collagen I) and lost the expression of epithelial specific genes (E-cad, ZO-1, CK18, and occludin). In addition, more than 60% of fibroblasts-like cells expressed myofibroblastic-related proteins such as αSMA, vimentin, and N-cad, which were not presented in mLEPCs. Furthermore, increased cell motility was also detected in these fibroblasts-like cells by time-lapse video observation. Our results demonstrate that hepatic epithelial progenitor cells, mLEPCs, transform to myofibroblast-like cells via epithelial-mesenchymal transition. This finding will facilitate understanding of the origin of myofibroblasts in liver fibrosis.
authors: College of Life Science of Shaoxing University, 900# Chennan Dadao, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, 312000, China.
authors: Shaohui
authors: S
authors: Ji
authors: Xihong
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: Jianhong
authors: J
authors: Shu
authors: Aijing
authors: A
authors: Sun
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Si
authors: Xiangyu
authors: X
authors: Guo
authors: Bo
authors: B
authors: Zhao
authors: Weizhi
authors: W
authors: Ji
authors: Lifang
authors: L
authors: Jin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D058628:Myofibroblasts / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta