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©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jan 27, 2026; 18(1): 113896
Published online Jan 27, 2026. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v18.i1.113896
Published online Jan 27, 2026. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v18.i1.113896
Transforming growth factor beta reduces proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 in the supernatant of hepatic stellate cells
Jan Bundschuh, Maximilian Neumann, Sebastian Zimny, Marlen Spirk, Christa Buechler, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg 93053, Bavaria, Germany
Author contributions: Bundschuh J, Neumann M, Zimny S, and Spirk M performed the study; Bundschuh J and Buechler C analyzed the data; Buechler C designed the research study and wrote the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: Experimental procedures were performed according to the guidelines of the charitable state-controlled foundation Human Tissue and Cell Research, with the written informed patient’s consent approved by the local ethical committee of the University Hospital of Regensburg (Approval No. 12-101-0048).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The dataset supporting the conclusions of this article is available from the corresponding author.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Christa Buechler, PhD, Associate Professor, Senior Researcher, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauss Allee 11, Regensburg 93053, Bavaria, Germany. christa.buechler@klinik.uni-regensburg.de
Received: September 8, 2025
Revised: October 10, 2025
Accepted: November 26, 2025
Published online: January 27, 2026
Processing time: 143 Days and 23.9 Hours
Revised: October 10, 2025
Accepted: November 26, 2025
Published online: January 27, 2026
Processing time: 143 Days and 23.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study showed that primary hepatic stellate cells and the LX-2 cell line secrete proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9). Levels of PCSK9 in the medium of LX-2 cells were found to be reduced by interleukin-6, chemerin-156, and transforming growth factor beta, and increased by lipopolysaccharide. The liver X receptor agonist lowered PCSK9 levels in the cell medium. As transforming growth factor beta is a fibrotic cytokine and activation of the liver X receptor exerts antifibrotic effects, PCSK9 levels in the cell medium cannot be used as a marker of activated hepatic stellate cells.