1. Interplay of cysteinyl leukotrienes and TGF-β in the activation of hepatic stellate cells from Schistosoma mansoni granulomas
- Author
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Ligia Almeida Paiva, Radovan Borojevic, Márcia C. El-Cheikh, Clarissa M. Maya-Monteiro, Patrícia M.R. e Silva, Sandra A.C. Perez, Christianne Bandeira-Melo, Anderson Junger Teodoro, and Patrícia T. Bozza
- Subjects
Leukotrienes ,Blotting, Western ,Inflammation ,Biology ,Pathogenesis ,Mice ,Transforming Growth Factor beta ,Fibrosis ,Lipid droplet ,medicine ,Animals ,Molecular Biology ,DNA Primers ,Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase ,Granuloma ,Base Sequence ,Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Schistosoma mansoni ,Cell Biology ,Zileuton ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,Molecular biology ,Blot ,Liver ,Microscopy, Fluorescence ,Immunology ,Hepatic stellate cell ,medicine.symptom ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) have a critical role in liver physiology, and in the pathogenesis of liver inflammation and fibrosis. Here, we investigated the interplay between leukotrienes (LT) and TGF-β in the activation mechanisms of HSCs from schistosomal granulomas (GR-HSCs). First, we demonstrated that GR-HSCs express 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO), as detected by immunolocalization in whole cells and confirmed in cell lysates through western blotting and by mRNA expression through RT-PCR. Moreover, mRNA expression of 5-LO activating protein (FLAP) and LTC(4)-synthase was also documented, indicating that GR-HSCs have the molecular machinery required for LT synthesis. Morphological analysis of osmium and Oil-Red O-stained HSC revealed large numbers of small lipid droplets (also known as lipid bodies). We observed co-localization of lipid droplet protein marker (ADRP) and 5-LO by immunofluorescence microscopy. We demonstrated that GR-HSCs were able to spontaneously release cysteinyl-LTs (CysLTs), but not LTB(4,) into culture supernatants. CysLT production was highly enhanced after TGF-β-stimulation. Moreover, the 5-LO inhibitor zileuton and 5-LO gene deletion were able to inhibit the TGF-β-stimulated proliferation of GR-HSCs, suggesting a role for LTs in HSC activation. Here, we extend the immunoregulatory function of HSC by demonstrating that HSC from liver granulomas of schistosome-infected mouse are able to release Cys-LTs in a TGF-β-regulated manner, potentially impacting pathogenesis and liver fibrosis in schistosomiasis.
- Published
- 2010
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