Sicklick Jason K, Choi Steve S, Bustamante Marcia, McCall Shannon J, Pérez Elizabeth Hernández, Huang Jiawen, Li Yin-Xiong, Rojkind Marcos, Diehl Anna Mae
Duke Univ. Medical Center, Division of Gastroenterology, Snyderman-GSRB I Suite 1073, 595 LaSalle St., Box 3256, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2006 Oct;291(4):G575-83. doi: 10.1152/ajpgi.00102.2006. Epub 2006 May 18.
Both myofibroblastic hepatic stellate cells (HSC) and hepatic epithelial progenitors accumulate in damaged livers. In some injured organs, the ability to distinguish between fibroblastic and epithelial cells is sometimes difficult because cells undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transitions (EMT). During EMT, cells coexpress epithelial and mesenchymal cell markers. To determine whether EMT occurs in adult liver cells, we analyzed the expression profile of primary HSC, two HSC lines, and hepatic epithelial progenitors. As expected, all HSC expressed HSC markers. Surprisingly, these markers were also expressed by epithelial progenitors. In addition, one HSC line expressed typical epithelial progenitor mRNAs, and these epithelial markers were inducible in the second HSC line. In normal and damaged livers, small ductular-type cells stained positive for an HSC marker. In conclusion, HSC and hepatic epithelial progenitors both coexpress epithelial and mesenchymal markers, providing evidence that EMT occurs in adult liver cells.
肌成纤维细胞性肝星状细胞（HSC）和肝上皮祖细胞均在受损肝脏中积聚。在一些受损器官中，有时难以区分成纤维细胞和上皮细胞，因为细胞会经历上皮-间质转化（EMT）。在EMT过程中，细胞会共同表达上皮细胞和间充质细胞标志物。为了确定EMT是否发生在成体肝细胞中，我们分析了原代HSC、两种HSC系以及肝上皮祖细胞的表达谱。正如预期的那样，所有HSC均表达HSC标志物。令人惊讶的是，这些标志物在上皮祖细胞中也有表达。此外，一种HSC系表达典型的上皮祖细胞mRNA，并且这些上皮标志物在第二种HSC系中是可诱导的。在正常和受损肝脏中，小导管样细胞对一种HSC标志物呈阳性染色。总之，HSC和肝上皮祖细胞均共同表达上皮和间充质标志物，这为EMT发生在成体肝细胞中提供了证据。
