Antifibrotic effects of CXCL9 and its receptor CXCR3 in livers of mice and humans.

ABSTRACT:

Background & aims

Fibrosis is the hallmark of chronic liver diseases, yet many aspects of its mechanism remain to be defined. Chemokines are ubiquitous chemotactic molecules that mediate many acute and chronic inflammatory conditions, and CXC chemokine genes colocalize with a locus previously shown to include fibrogenic genes. We investigated the roles of the chemokine CXCL9 and its receptor CXCR3 in liver fibrosis.

Methods

The effects of CXCL variants on fibrogenesis were analyzed using samples from patients with hepatitis C virus infection and by induction of fibrosis in CXCR3(-/-) and wild-type mice. In mice, intrahepatic immune cell subsets were investigated and interferon gamma messenger RNA levels were measured at baseline and after injury. Human serum CXCL9 levels wer

SUBMITTER: Wasmuth HE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2892869 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature