Abstract:

Abstract:Objective To explore the biological effects of human hepatocyte growth factor (hHGF) gene expression on CCl4-injured human hepatocytes and rat hepatic stellate cell line and the protective effect of hHGF gene expression on CCl4-injured human normal liver cell line (HL-7702),and   explore the mechanism of apoptosis.Methods The  stably transfected HL-7702 cell clones were divided into four groups:PCI-neo-hHGF  group,   PCI-neo empty vector group,liposome control group,and blank control group.The proliferative activity of cells was determined by MTT method.The protein expressions of hHGF,caspase-3,caspase-8, and caspase-9 were measured using Western blotting in PCI-neo-hHGF transfected HL-7702 cells and CFSC-2G cells.Results After the HL-7702 cells were transfected with PCI-neo-HGF and cultivated for 48 h,the cell proliferation activity was significantly higher than those in  PCI-neo,liposome and control groups (P<0.01);and with the increasing of transfected dose of PCI-neo-HGF,the proliferation activity of the cells had a trend of increasing,but there was no significant difference between various groups(P>0.05).The protein expression of caspase-3 in PCI-neo-HGF transfected HL-7702 cells was decreased significantly compared with those in CCl4-injured HL-7702 cells and PCI-neo transfected HL-7702 cells;the protein expressions of caspase-8 and caspase-9 were not detected;the protein expression of caspase-3 in PCI-neo-HGF transfected CFSC-2G cells was increased compared with those in CCl4-induced CFSC-2G cells,the protein expression of caspase-9 was also positive.Conclusion PCI-neo-HGF can promote the growth and proliferation of HL-7702 cells,and inhibit  the  apoptosis of CCl4-injured HL-7702 cells,and promote the apoptosis of  rat CFSC-2G cells 　in vitro.Its mechanism may be related to the up-regulation of the protein expressions of caspase-3 and caspase -9.

Key words: human hepatocyte growth factor;CFSC-2G cells;apoptosis;caspase-3；caspase-8；caspase-9