Extracellular Vesicles from Steatotic Hepatocytes Provoke Pro-Fibrotic Responses in Cultured Stellate Cells.

ABSTRACT: Hepatic steatosis and chronic hepatocyte damage ultimately lead to liver fibrosis. Key pathophysiological steps are the activation and transdifferentiation of hepatic stellate cells. We assessed the interplay between hepatocytes and hepatic stellate cells under normal and steatotic conditions. We hypothesized that hepatocyte-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) modify the phenotype of stellate cells. By high speed centrifugation, EVs were isolated from conditioned media of the hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2 under baseline conditions (C-EVs) or after induction of steatosis by linoleic and oleic acids for 24 h (FA-EVs). Migration of the human stellate cell line TWNT4 and of primary human stellate cells towards the respective EVs and sera of MAFLD patients were investigated using Bo

SUBMITTER: Koenen MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9138794 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature