ABSTRACT
Objective@#To investigate the role of adenovirus-mediated short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in down-regulating the expression of phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) on p130Crk-related substrates(p130Cas) and paxillin signal transduction to activate hepatic stellate cell (HSC) in vitro.@*Methods@#The rat hepatic stellate cell line, HSC-T6 was cultured and activated in vitro. The adenovirus was used as a vector to transiently transfect shRNA targeting PTEN to activate HSC in vitro, and then PTEN low expression model of activated HSC in vitro was established. Western blot and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR were used to detect the protein and mRNA expression of PTEN, p130cas and paxillin in activated HSC. The experiment was divided into control group (HSC were transfected with DMEM medium instead of adenovirus), Ad-GFP group (HSC were infected with empty the adenovirus expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) alone), and Ad-shRNA/PTEN group (HSC were infected with the recombinant adenovirus containing both shRNA targeting PTEN and GFP gene). One-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of multiple groups, and LSD test was used for inter-group comparison.@*Results@#shRNA targeting PTEN was successfully transfected and significantly down-regulated the PTEN protein and mRNA expression of HSC in vitro (P < 0.05), and the PTEN low expression model of HSC in vitro was successfully constructed. Compared with the expression of p130cas mRNA in the three groups of HSC, the expression fold of p130cas mRNA in the Ad-GFP group and the Ad-shRNA / PTEN group was 1.01 times and 1.52 times, respectively. The expression of p130cas mRNA in HSC of the Ad-shRNA / PTEN group was significantly higher than control group and Ad-GFP group (P < 0.05), but there was no statistically significant difference between the control group and the Ad-GFP group (P > 0.05). The expression of p130cas protein in the three groups was higher than that in the control group (0.74 ± 0.07) and the Ad-GFP group (0.72 ± 0.02); P < 0.05, but there was no statistically significant difference between the Ad-GFP group and the control group (P > 0.05). The expression of paxillin mRNA in the three groups of HSCs was compared with the expression of paxillin mRNA in the control group of HSC being 1, the expression folds of paxillin mRNA in the Ad-GFP group and Ad-shRNA / PTEN group were 0.97 times and 1.58 times, respectively. The expression of paxillin mRNA in the Ad-shRNA / PTEN group was higher than that in the control group and the Ad-GFP group (P < 0.05), and there was no statistically significant difference between the control group and the Ad-GFP group (P > 0.05). The expression of paxillin protein in the three groups of HSCs was higher in the Ad-shRNA / PTEN group (0.91 ± 0.05) than control group (0.46 ± 0.03) and Ad-GFP group (0.50 ± 0.04), P < 0.05, and there was no statistically significant difference between the Ad-GFP group and the control group (P > 0.05).@*Conclusion@#Down-regulation of PTEN expression can significantly boost p130cas and signal transduction activity of paxillin protein in activated HSC in vitro.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the down regulation of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 ( PTEN) gene by adenovirus mediated short hairpin RNA ( shRNA) on the adhesion in activated hepatic stellate cells( HSC ) in vitro and the related signal transduction mechanism .Methods The recombinant adenovirus ( Ad-shRNA/PTEN) with shRNA targeting PTEN and expressing green fluorescent protein ( GFP) were transient trans-fected into the cultural activated HSC in vitro.The experimental group as follows:1)Control group, viral medium was replaced by DMEM at virus transfection step .2 ) Ad-GFP group , HSC were infected with adenovirus expressing GFP alone.3)Ad-shRNA/PTEN group, HSC were infected with adenovirus both taking shRNA targeting PTEN and expressing GFP.PTEN mRNA expression was detected by RT-qPCR, and western blot was used for detecting pro-tein expressions of PTEN , focal adhesion kinase ( FAK) and phosphorylated FAK ( Thr397 ) [ p-FAK( Tyr397 ) ] in HSC.The toluidine blue stain method and MTT colorimetric method were used to determine the adhesion ability of HSC.Results When HSC were infected by adenovirus for 48 hours, PTEN protein and mRNA expressions in Ad-shRNA/PTEN group significantly decreased ( P<0.05 ) , compared to control group and Ad-GFP group, and the expressions of p-FAK ( Tyr397 ) in Ad-shRNA/PTEN group were significantly higher than those in control group and Ad-GFP group ( P<0.05 ) .The adhesion cell counting and the adhesion rate of HSC in Ad-shRNA/PTEN group significantly increased as compared with control group and Ad-GFP group ( P<0.05 ) .Conclusions The down-regulation of PTEN expression can promote the adhesion by increasing the activation of FAK signaling trans -duction in activated HSC in vitro.