The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The T-lymphocyte / Hepatic stellate cell axis in liver fibrosis

The T-lymphocyte / Hepatic stellate cell axis in liver fibrosis
The T-lymphocyte / Hepatic stellate cell axis in liver fibrosis

Although most human liver diseases are characterised by T-lymphocyte infiltration, many previous studies have focussed on Kupffer cells as intermediaries in HSC activation.  This thesis examines how T-lymphocytes may directly influence HSC activation via cytokines (IL-10, IL-4, IL-13) and the balance of Th1/Th2 responses or via cell-cell interactions and analyses a T-lymphocyte mediated animal model of liver fibrosis.

Previous studies have suggested that IL-10 exerts an anti-fibrotic effect on CC14 induced liver fibrosis independent of its anti-inflammatory activity.  this thesis demonstrates that IL-10 deleted HSC demonstrate increased procollagen-1 and α-SMA mRNA in vitro compared to wild type controls but treatment with recombinant IL-10 did not inhibit HSC activation in vitro or reduce CC14 induced liver fibrosis in vivo.

IL-13 was found to increase HSC activation, stimulating both proliferation and collagen synthesis in vitro.  This provides a potential mechanism for the documented effect of IL-13 in promoting liver fibrosis due to murine schistosomiasis.  IL-4 was found to increase HSC proliferation, in addition to its previously demonstrated effect of increasing collagen synthesis.

Administration of concanavalin-A (Con-A) to mice causes an acute hepatitis mediated by CD4+ T-lymphocyte activation.  Repeated Con-A injections have previously been shown to result in liver fibrosis which has been assumed to be CD4+ mediated.  In this thesis, CD4 deleted mice were found to develop as much fibrosis as wild types after repeated Con-A injection implying that this is not a pure CD4 mediated model.  Data suggested that T-cells bearing neither a CD4+ nor CD8+ phenotype might be implicated.

Studies of T-cell/HSC interactions in vitro showed that both co-culture with Th1 and Th2 cells and treatment with conditioned media had a marked anti-proliferative effect on HSC.  The effect of co-culture was shown to be dependent on direct cell-cell contact.

University of Southampton
Maltby, Julia
af85a54d-e589-4c23-899a-cb877840c4bb
Maltby, Julia
af85a54d-e589-4c23-899a-cb877840c4bb

Maltby, Julia (2004) The T-lymphocyte / Hepatic stellate cell axis in liver fibrosis. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

Although most human liver diseases are characterised by T-lymphocyte infiltration, many previous studies have focussed on Kupffer cells as intermediaries in HSC activation.  This thesis examines how T-lymphocytes may directly influence HSC activation via cytokines (IL-10, IL-4, IL-13) and the balance of Th1/Th2 responses or via cell-cell interactions and analyses a T-lymphocyte mediated animal model of liver fibrosis.

Previous studies have suggested that IL-10 exerts an anti-fibrotic effect on CC14 induced liver fibrosis independent of its anti-inflammatory activity.  this thesis demonstrates that IL-10 deleted HSC demonstrate increased procollagen-1 and α-SMA mRNA in vitro compared to wild type controls but treatment with recombinant IL-10 did not inhibit HSC activation in vitro or reduce CC14 induced liver fibrosis in vivo.

IL-13 was found to increase HSC activation, stimulating both proliferation and collagen synthesis in vitro.  This provides a potential mechanism for the documented effect of IL-13 in promoting liver fibrosis due to murine schistosomiasis.  IL-4 was found to increase HSC proliferation, in addition to its previously demonstrated effect of increasing collagen synthesis.

Administration of concanavalin-A (Con-A) to mice causes an acute hepatitis mediated by CD4+ T-lymphocyte activation.  Repeated Con-A injections have previously been shown to result in liver fibrosis which has been assumed to be CD4+ mediated.  In this thesis, CD4 deleted mice were found to develop as much fibrosis as wild types after repeated Con-A injection implying that this is not a pure CD4 mediated model.  Data suggested that T-cells bearing neither a CD4+ nor CD8+ phenotype might be implicated.

Studies of T-cell/HSC interactions in vitro showed that both co-culture with Th1 and Th2 cells and treatment with conditioned media had a marked anti-proliferative effect on HSC.  The effect of co-culture was shown to be dependent on direct cell-cell contact.

Text
981460.pdf - Version of Record
Available under License University of Southampton Thesis Licence.
Download (29MB)

More information

Published date: 2004

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 465589
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/465589
PURE UUID: 300f2316-d975-4c9c-a1f0-441e95c995ab

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 01:56
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 20:16

Export record

Contributors

Author: Julia Maltby

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×