Abstract
BackgroundCirrhosis is a chronic liver disease whereby scar tissue replaces healthy liver parenchyma, leading to disruption of the liver architecture and hepatic dysfunction. Currently, there is no effective disease-modifying therapy for liver fibrosis. Recently, our group demonstrated that human umbilical cord blood (UCB) plasma possesses therapeutic effects in a rat model of acute liver failure.MethodsIn the current study, we tested whether exosomes (Exo) existed in UCB plasma and if they produced any antifibrotic benefits in a liver fibrosis model.ResultsOur results showed that UCB-Exo improved liver function and increased matrix metalloproteinase/tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase degradation to reduce the degree of fibrosis. Moreover, UCB-Exo were found to suppress hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activity in vitro. These effects were associated with suppression of transforming growth factor-β/inhibitor of DNA binding 1 signaling.ConclusionsThese results further support that UCB-Exo have antifibrotic effects in mice with liver fibrosis and activated HSCs and may herald a new cell-free antifibrotic therapy.
Highlights
Liver fibrosis is a healing process associated with chronic inflammation
Isolation and identification of exosomes derived from umbilical cord blood (UCB) and peripheral blood (PB) Our previous experiments showed that UCB contains a variety of cytokines with therapeutic effects in the acute liver failure rat model
We believed that UCB may contain exosomes that could be used as therapeutic agents
Summary
Liver fibrosis is a healing process associated with chronic inflammation. Fibrogenesis is a vicious cycle driven by a number of damaging factors including inflammation and oxidative stress that underlie various liver conditions, such as hepatitis B and C, alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and autoimmune liver diseases [1]. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play a central role in liver fibrosis. ID1 levels are highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma [9, 10]. Inhibition of ID1 expression may be a promising therapeutic approach. Cirrhosis is a chronic liver disease whereby scar tissue replaces healthy liver parenchyma, leading to disruption of the liver architecture and hepatic dysfunction. There is no effective disease-modifying therapy for liver fibrosis. Our group demonstrated that human umbilical cord blood (UCB) plasma possesses thera‐ peutic effects in a rat model of acute liver failure
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