Differential Expression of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor, Hepatocyte Growth Factor Receptor and Hypoxia‐Inducible Factor‐1‐Alpha in Aged Rat Livers

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Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), hepatocyte growth factor receptor (cMET) and the transcription factor, hypoxia‐inducible factor 1‐ alpha (HIF1‐α) are highly important in angiogenesis, mitogenesis and cell proliferation which are all vital processes required for mammalian liver regeneration. In as much as aging is characterised with general decline in maintenance and function of certain body organs, this is not exactly the same with the liver in regeneration. Aging could result to reduction in the response of the liver to certain extrinsic stimuli such as initiation of stress proteins as a result of injury. To study the effects of age on the expression of these molecules, EGFR, cMET and HIF1‐α gene expression in aged rat liver samples (18months old) vs. young animals (3 months old) was studied through semi and relative quantitative quantification of gene specific mRNA coding for these genes. β‐Actin was used as a reference/housekeeping gene for normalisation of the EGFR, cMET and HIF1‐α genes, the Livak method was used to quantify the relative expression of these genes in relation to the ages of the animals. The results show high mRNA expression of EGFR and cMET in 3 months old samples (young). Analysis of EGFR showed an mRNA fold decrease of 0.56 gene expression and 2.3 for cMET gene express in the 18 months liver. HIF1‐α analysis showed a 5.16 increase in the mRNA gene expression in the 18 month old when compared with the 3 months old. Data from this study show that decrease in expression of epidermal growth factor receptor in the liver with age accelerates decrease in regeneration rate. The fact that EGFR and cMET were expressed at significantly lower levels in older samples reflects the differential decrease in regeneration ability and physiologic activities such proliferation, mitogenesis and angiogenesis in the liver with age. This result in reduction in the ability of the liver to regenerate, thus making the aged liver more susceptible to infections.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.