Cathepsin B inactivation attenuates hepatic injury and fibrosis during cholestasis
J. Clin. Invest. Ali Canbay, et al. 112:152 doi:10.1172/JCI17740 [Go to this article.]

Figure 4
Markers for HSC activation are increased in Ctsb^+/+ compared with Ctsb^–/– and R-3032–treated Ctsb^+/+ BDL mice. Three days after the surgical procedure, liver tissue was procured and total hepatic RNA was isolated as described in Methods. α-SMA, TGF-β1, COL1A1, and TIMP were quantitated by real-time PCR. The expression was normalized as a ratio using 18S and GAPDH mRNA as housekeeping genes. A value of 1 for this ratio was arbitrarily assigned to the data obtained from sham-operated Ctsb^+/+ mice. (a) α-SMA mRNA expression in Ctsb^+/+ BDL was higher than in Ctsb^–/– (P < 0.0001) and R-3032–treated Ctsb^+/+ BDL mice (P < 0.0003, n = 4 for each group). (b) The expression of TGF-β1 mRNA was greater in Ctsb^+/+ than in Ctsb^–/– (P < 0.0001) and R-3032–treated Ctsb^+/+ BDL mice (P < 0.0001, n = 4 for each group). (c) The expression of COL1A1 mRNA was significantly elevated in Ctsb^+/+ BDL mice and markedly attenuated in Ctsb^–/– (P < 0.0001) and R-3032–treated Ctsb^+/+ BDL mice (P < 0.0001, n = 4 for each group). (d) The expression of TIMP mRNA was not significantly different in Ctsb^+/+, Ctsb^–/–, and R-3032–treated Ctsb^+/+ BDL mice (P = NS, n = 4 for each group).