Department of Blood Transfusion Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
Mol Med Rep. 2020 Nov;22(5):4116-4124. doi: 10.3892/mmr.2020.11516. Epub 2020 Sep 17.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global public health problem. Cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma are the main causes of death in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection. Liver fibrosis is an important cause of cirrhosis and end‑stage liver disease after CHC infection. Along with the course of infection, liver fibrosis exhibits a progressive exacerbation. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are involved in both physiological and pathological processes of the liver. During the chronic liver injury process, the activated HSCs transform into myofibroblasts, which are important cells in the development of liver fibrosis. At present, HCV infection still lacks specific markers for the accurate detection of the disease condition and progression. Therefore, the present review focused on HSCs, which are closely related to HCV‑infected liver fibrosis, and analyzed the changes in the HSCs, including their surface‑specific markers, cytokine production, activation, cell function and morphological structure. The present review aimed to propose novel diagnostic markers, at both the cellular and molecular level, which would be of great significance for the timely diagnosis of the disease. According to this aim, the characteristic changes of HSCs during HCV infection were reviewed in the present article.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染是一个全球性的公共卫生问题。肝硬化和肝细胞癌是慢性丙型肝炎（CHC）感染患者死亡的主要原因。肝纤维化是肝硬化和 CHC 感染后终末期肝病的重要原因。随着感染过程的进行，肝纤维化呈进行性加重。肝星状细胞（HSCs）参与肝脏的生理和病理过程。在慢性肝损伤过程中，活化的 HSCs 转化为肌成纤维细胞，肌成纤维细胞是肝纤维化发展的重要细胞。目前，HCV 感染仍然缺乏用于准确检测疾病状况和进展的特异性标志物。因此，本综述重点关注与 HCV 感染性肝纤维化密切相关的 HSCs，并分析了 HSCs 的变化，包括其表面特异性标志物、细胞因子产生、激活、细胞功能和形态结构。本综述旨在提出细胞和分子水平的新的诊断标志物，这对于疾病的及时诊断具有重要意义。根据这一目的，本文综述了 HCV 感染期间 HSCs 的特征性变化。
