hepatic stellate cells

[iScience] Scientists demonstrated that serum amyloid A1 (SAA1) acts as a chemokine recruiting HSCs towards injury loci signaling via TLR2, a finding proven by gene manipulation studies in cell and mice models.

[Journal of Clinical Investigation] Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) may exert tumor-promoting and tumor-suppressive functions, but the mechanisms underlying these opposing effects remain elusive. The authors sought to understand these potentially opposing functions by interrogating functional relationships between CAF subtypes, their mediators, desmoplasia and tumor growth in a wide range of tumor types metastasizing to the liver, the most common organ site for metastasis.

[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] Scientists hypothesized that the pace of fibrosis progression might reflect changes in gene expression within the aging liver.

[Biochemical Journal] Based on mRNA and protein expression profiling data, investigators found that αVβ1 integrin is the most abundant member of the αV integrin family in either quiescent or transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)1-activated primary human hepatic stellate cells.

[Nature Protocols] Researchers describe a protocol to differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells into hepatic stellate cells.

[Carbohydrate Polymers] Investigators demonstrated that chondroitin sulfate coated multilayered 50-nm nanoparticles encapsulating collagenase and silibinin broke down the dense collagen stroma, while silibinin inhibited activated hepatic stellate cells.