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Abstract
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) secrete a great variety of cytokines that have beneficial paracrine actions. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) promotes proliferation in several cell types. The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of HGF gene-transfected MSC (HGF–MSC) in acetaminophen (AAP)-treated hepatocytes. We transfected the HGF gene into MSCs and confirmed HGF expression by RT-PCR and western blot. The concentration of HGF in HGF–MSC conditioned media (HGFCM) was upregulated compared with that in control MSCCM samples. Cell viability was increased in HGFCM-treated hepatocytes. Expression of Mcl-1, an anti-apoptosis protein, was increased and expression of pro-apoptosis proteins (Bad, Bik and Bid) was decreased in HGFCM-treated hepatocytes. HGF–MSC had protective effects on AAP-induced hepatocyte damage by enhancing proliferation. These results suggest that HGF-expressing MSCs may provide regenerative potential for liver cell damage.
Declaration of interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning (NRF-2013R1A1A2A10011594) with partial funding from Han Cell Inc. (2008-1-1). In addition, this work was supported by the Gachon University research fund (GCU-2014-0199).