The gene expression anti role of Wnt signal pathway in liver fibrosis / 中华消化杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the gene expression of Wnt signal transduction pathway in experimental liver fibrosis and to investigate its role in liver fibrosis. Methods Liver fibrosis model was induced with carbon tetrachloride in 8 SD rats. Another 8 healthy rats were served as control. The gene expression in liver tissues of models and controls were examined using real time PCR array. The differential gene expression was identified as either up- or down-regulated 2-fold. The expressions of smooth muscle actin (SMA), Wnt4, Frizzled2 and β-catenin in the tissues were examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Results The examination confirmed that 36 genes were differentially expressed, including 25 genes up-regulated and 11 genes down-regulated. Compared with the controls, the expressions of Wnt4, Wnt5 a and W nt11 were up-regulated more than 13.9-, 16.5-and 2.17-fold respectively, while the expressions of Wntl and Wnt3 were down-regulated more than 2.32- and 2.15-fold respectively in fibrotic liver. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot showed that the expressions of SMA, Wnt4 and Frizzled2 in fibrotic liver were remarkably higher than those in normal controls. While the level of phosphorylated β-catenin was decreased. Conclusion Both canonical and noncanonical Wnt signal transduction pathway may involve in the mechanism of liver fibrogenesis.