Investigation of the effects of schistosoma mansoni eggs on hepatic stellate cell phenotype

Anthony, B 2010, Investigation of the effects of schistosoma mansoni eggs on hepatic stellate cell phenotype , PhD thesis, Salford : University of Salford.

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Abstract

Schistosomiasis is one of the most important helminth infections in man, infecting an estimated 200 million people worldwide leaving 20 million people with severe morbidity and causing 20,000 deaths a year. Of chronically infected patients approximately 8 per cent develop the periportal fibrosis first described by Symmer in 1908 known as clay-pipe-stem fibrosis. Little research has been carried out in the disease with regards to fibrosis alone. The main cell within the liver responsible for fibrosis in a number of liver conditions is the hepatic stellate cell (HSC). This cell is located in the liver sinusoid and is responsible for matrix maintenance and storage of vitamin A within the liver. Upon insult to the liver this cell undergoes a process of transdifferentiation into a myofibroblast responsible for production of a scar like matrix observed in liver fibrosis. This thesis investigates interactions between viable and non-viable schistosome eggs with this cell in an in vitro model developed within this investigation. This model makes use of the HSC human cell line, LX-2. HSC demonstrate dose and time-dependent reduced expression of fibrogenic genes for a-smooth muscle actin, connective tissue growth factor and type I collagen but increased expression of adipogenic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor y. HSC exhibited elongated fine processes and reduced size, increased accumulation of lipid droplets and reduced expression of a-smooth muscle actin and F-actin stress fibres. Additionally, schistosome eggs prevented the HSC fibrogenic response to exogenous transforming growth factor-p. This supports previous research to suggest that fibrosis observed in schistosomiasis is TGF-(3 independent and may additionally explain why myofibroblasts are observed towards the edge of granulomas and not in the immediate vicinity of the eggs themselves. In summary, viable and non- eggs blocked fibrogenesis in HSC, a finding which may have implications for our understanding of the fibrotic pathology in S.mansoni infections.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Contributors:	Allen, J (Supervisor)
Schools:	Schools > School of Environment and Life Sciences > Biomedical Research Centre
Depositing User:	Institutional Repository
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2012 13:34
Last Modified:	04 Aug 2022 11:27
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/26551

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