Infusion of Kupffer Cells Expanded in Ameliorated Liver Fibrosis in a Murine Model of Liver Injury

oleh: Weina Li, Fei He

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: SAGE Publishing 2021-03-01

Deskripsi

Transfer of exogenous macrophages represents an alternative technique to treat liver fibrosis. At present, bone marrow-derived monocytes and stem cells are the main sources for exogenous macrophages. Kupffer cells (KCs) are the resident macrophages in the liver and play a critical role in the liver homeostasis and diseases. It is unclear whether infusion of KCs can treat liver fibrosis. In this study, we observed that granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) could improve the purity of cultured KCs and significantly up-regulate the expression of Cluster of Differentiation 11b (CD11b). The most important point is that GM-CSF could significantly promote the proliferation of KCs in vitro . KCs expanded in vitro still had the potential of M1/M2 polarization and phagocytosis. Furthermore, infusion of these KCs could ameliorate liver fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) in mice. Together, our results suggest that KCs are likely to be another source for macrophage therapy.