RESUMO
Objective To investigate the effect of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) on proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and the possible mechanism involved.Methods The HSC was isolated by optiprep method.Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT) assay was used to detect the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.The effect of invasion was measured with transwell assay.Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) were detected by Western blotting.Results HSC was isolated and cultured successfully.HSC promoted the proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells (proliferation:0.571 ±0.024 vs 0.803 ±0.048,1.271 ±0.044,1.973 ±0.036; invasion:25.2 ± 1.9 vs 35.8 ±3.3,44.4 ±2.7,53.9 ±3.6) (P ＜0.05).MMP-2 (1.32 ±0.22 vs 2.46 ±0.39) and NF-κB(0.85 ±0.09 vs 1.44 ±0.21) were increased obviously in hepatocellular carcinoma cells stimulated by HSC.Conclusions HSC can promote the proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.The mechanism might be related to up-regulation of the expressions of MMP-2 and NF-κB.