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Background: Liver progenitor cells (LPCs) are bipotent stem cells existing in the adult liver, which could be activated upon massive liver injury and contribute to liver regeneration. However, mechanisms of maintenance of LPC functionality remain poorly understood. Previous studies found that autophagy was required for the self-renewal and differentiation of several tissue stem cells. Methods: The study compared the level of autophagic activity in LPCs and differentiated hepatocytes. Then, autophagic activity was inhibited in LPCs by lentivirus-mediated autophagy-related gene 5 or Beclin 1 knockdown. Clonogenic assay, cell viability assays, hepatic differentiation assay, and senescence analysis were conducted to assess the role of autophagy in regulating self-renewal, hepatic differentiation and senescence of LPCs. Results: We observed high autophagic activity in LPCs compared with differentiated hepatocytes. We found that inhibition of autophagy impaired the self-renewal, proliferation, and hepatic differentiation capability of LPCs under normal cultural condition, but had little impact on cell viability. Interestingly, while wild-type LPCs remained rarely affected by the toxin, etoposide, inhibition of autophagy induced the senescent phenotype of LPCs. Overexpression of Beclin 1 in Beclin 1-knockdown LPCs restored the functionality of stem cells. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that autophagy may function as a critical regulator of LPC functionality under both physiological and pathological condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Myocardial inflammation and apoptosis induced by cirrhosis are among the primary mechanisms of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy. CD73, a common extracellular nucleotidase also known as 5'-nucleotidase, is associated with the progression of inflammation and immunity in multiple organs. However, the mechanism by which CD73 contributes to myocardial inflammation and apoptosis in cirrhosis remains unclear., Methods: In this study, a cirrhotic cardiomyopathy model in mice was established by bile duct ligation. Myocardial-specific overexpression of CD73 was achieved by tail vein injection of AAV9 (adeno-associated virus)-cTNT-NT5E-mCherry, and cardiac function in mice was assessed using echocardiography. Myocardial inflammation infiltration and apoptosis were evaluated through pathological observation and ELISA assays. The expression of CD73, A2AR, apoptotic markers, and proteins related to the NF-κB pathway in myocardial tissue were measured., Results: In the myocardial tissue of the cirrhotic cardiomyopathy mouse model, the expression of CD73 and A2AR increased. Overexpression of CD73 in the myocardium via AAV9 injection and stimulation of A2AR with CGS 21680 inhibited myocardial inflammation and cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by cirrhosis. Additionally, overexpression of CD73 suppressed the activation of the NF-κB pathway by upregulating the expression of the adenosine receptor A2A., Conclusion: Our study reveals that the CD73/A2AR signaling axis mitigates myocardial inflammation and apoptosis induced by cirrhosis through negative feedback regulation of the NF-κB pathway., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhao, Shao, Xia, Liu, Zhang, Zhao, Dang, Qian, Xu, Yu and Wang.)