Mitigation of the liver injury based on the regulation of membrane transport in hepatic stellate cells

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14997
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Medical pharmacy
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Maeda Kazuya 東京大学, 大学院薬学系研究科(薬学部), 講師 (00345258)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 肝星細胞 / トランスポーター / OATP2A1 / 肝線維化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research intended to clarify whether membrane transporters expressed on the hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) can be a novel target for the suppression of the activation status of HSCs in liver injury, which leads to the amelioration of hepatic fibrosis. Based on the gene expression databases, we focused on transporter A, whose expression was similarly changed under multiple conditions. When inhibitors of the transport function of A were added to the LX-2 cells (immortalized HSCs), TGF-beta-dependent increased expression of COL1A1 and alpha-SMA was suppressed in an inhibitor concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, multiple siRNAs for gene A were introduced to LX-2 cells, the similar results were obtained. From these results, it was suggested that expression of transporter A in HSCs may contribute to the progression of the activation of HSCs.

Free Research Field

分子薬物動態学