Effect of decoy receptor 3 gene on hepatocyte apoptosis / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) gene on hepatocyte apoptosis, as well as the possible mechanism of action of DcR3 in this process. MethodsThe human liver cell lines were cultured in vitro, and pEF1α-DcR3 transfection group, pEF1α-IRES transfection group, and negative control group were established. The pEF1α-IRES-DsRed-Express2-DcR3 eukaryotic expression vector was constructed and transfected into human liver cell lines for 36 hours. qRT-PCR was used to measure the mRNA expression of DcR3, Fas ligand (FasL), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), Western blot was used to measure the change in the protein expression of DcR3, and flow cytometry was used to measure apoptosis. An analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between groups, and the least significant difference t-test was used for comparison between any two groups. ResultsAfter human liver cell lines were transfected with pEF1α-DcR3 for 36 hours, the pEF1α-DcR3 transfection group showed significant increases in the mRNA and protein expression of DcR3 compared with the pEF1α-IRES transfection group and negative control group (F=33 1695 and 14154, all P＜0.01). Compared with the other two groups, the pEF1α-DcR3 transfection group showed significant reductions in the mRNA expression of FasL, α-SMA, and TGF-β1 (F=269 4518, 20 7904, and 80678, all P＜0.01), which suggested that DcR3 inhibited the expression of FasL, α-SMA, and TGF-β1. Compared with the pEF1α-IRES transfection group and negative control group, the pEF1α-DcR3 transfection group showed a significant reduction in apoptosis rate (F=55863, all P＜0.01). ConclusionDcR3 can inhibit hepatocyte apoptosis and downregulate the mRNA expression of FasL, α-SMA, and TGF-β1.