Tonsil-derived stromal cells reduces CCl4-induced liver fibrosis in mice via autophagy activation (P2180)

Abstract

Abstract Liver transplantation is the treatment of choice for chronic liver failure due to fibrosis, however, it faces several difficulties, including donor shortage, surgery-related complications, immunological rejection, and high medical cost. Cell transplantation therapy would be the minimally invasive and alternative methods, potentially with fewer complications. As cell source, we isolated mesenchymal stromal cells from human palatine tonsils (T-MSCs) and injected into CCl4-induced liver injury model of the mice. We found that T-MSCs were differentiated into hepatocyte-like cells under 25 ng/ml insulin-like growth factor, 25 ng/ml hepatocyte growth factor, 10-7 M dexamethasone, and 10 ng/ml oncostatin M for three weeks in vitro. After injecting into CCl4-liver damaged mice, T-MSCs were differentiated into albumin positive cells but were not detected in the group of mice with normal liver. During this process, T-MSCs showed accumulation of autophagosome-bound LC3B, upregulation of proautophagic beclin-1, and ubiquitin positive in vivo. Our data imply that T-MSCs contributed to reduction of CCl4-induced liver fibrosis through autophagy activation pathway.