Brief Article
Copyright ©2010 Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2010; 16(26): 3330-3334
Published online Jul 14, 2010. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v16.i26.3330
Paclitaxel ameliorates fibrosis in hepatic stellate cells via inhibition of TGF-β/Smad activity
Jun Zhou, De-Wu Zhong, Qun-Wei Wang, Xiong-Ying Miao, Xun-Di Xu
Jun Zhou, De-Wu Zhong, Qun-Wei Wang, Xiong-Ying Miao, Xun-Di Xu, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Zhou J did most of the experiments and data acquisition; Wang QW, Miao XY and Xu XD were involved in initial experiments in this paper; Zhou J and Zhong DW participated actively in the design of experiments, interpretation of data, and preparation of the manuscript.
Supported by Grants from the Creative Research Group Fund of the National Foundation Committee of Natural Science of China, No. 30871169/C140405
Correspondence to: De-Wu Zhong, MD, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China. wangqiner2004@163.com
Telephone: +86-731-84897389 Fax: +86-731-84454382
Received: January 29, 2010
Revised: March 9, 2010
Accepted: March 16, 2010
Published online: July 14, 2010
Abstract

AIM: To investigated if paclitaxel can attenuate hepatic fibrosis in rat hepatic stellate cells (RHSCs).

METHODS: RHSCs were cultured in vitro and randomly assigned to four groups: normal control group (treated only with Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium), Taxol group (200 nmol/L paclitaxel was added to the cell culture), transforming growth factor (TGF)-β group (5 ng/mL recombinant human TGF-β1 was added to the cell culture), and TGF-β + Taxol group. TGF-β signaling cascade and status of various extracellular matrix proteins were evaluated by real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting.

RESULTS: The paclitaxel treatment markedly suppressed Smad2/3 phosphorylation. This was associated with attenuated expression of collagen I and III and fibronectin in RHSCs.

CONCLUSION: These data indicate that 200 nmol/L paclitaxel ameliorates hepatic fibrosis via modulating TGF-β signaling, and that paclitaxel may have some therapeutic value in humans with hepatic fibrosis.

Keywords: Transforming growth factor-β; Hepatic fibrosis; Paclitaxel; Smad; Microtubules