Effect of gene therapy on molecular markers of liver fibrosis.

<p>(A, B) Col1α1 mRNA expression was significantly elevated (*, p<0.001) in saline-treated livers compared with healthy livers (n = 10), and was significantly reduced with HGF (n = 14, #, p<0.05), mMMP-9 (n = 10, *, p<0.001) and HGF/mMMP-9 (n = 8, p<0.001) treatments compared with saline-treated fibrotic livers (n = 13). (C, D) α-SMA mRNA expression was significantly reduced with HGF (n = 14, p<0.001), mMMP-9 (n = 10, p<0.001) and HGF/mMMP-9 (n = 9, p<0.001) treatments compared with saline-treated fibrotic livers and was significantly elevated (p<0.001) in saline-treated fibrotic livers compared with healthy livers (n = 10). (E, F) TGF-β1 mRNA expression was significantly reduced with mMMP-9 (n = 10, p<0.01) and HGF/mMMP-9 (n = 9, p<0.01) treatment but not with HGF (n = 13, p = 0.87) compared with saline-treated fibrotic livers (n = 13). (G) TIMP-1 protein concentration was elevated (p<0.01) in saline-treated fibrotic livers (n = 9) and was further elevated in HGF-treated livers (n = 13) compared with healthy liver (n = 9). TIMP-1 concentration in fibrotic livers was significantly (p<0.001) decreased with mMMP-9 (n = 10) but not with HGF (p = 0.09) or with HGF/mMMP-9 (n = 9, p = 0.69) treatment. (H) Hydroxyproline concentration in saline-treated fibrotic livers (n = 10) was significantly elevated (p<0.001) compared with healthy livers (n = 10) and was significantly (p<0.001) decreased only with mMMP-9 treatment (n = 10) but not with HGF (n = 11, p = 0.86) or with HGF/mMMP-9 (n = 7, p = 0.98) treatments. (I) ALT serum concentration in saline-treated fibrotic rats (n = 14) was significantly elevated (p<0.001) compared with healthy rats (n = 10) and was significantly decreased with mMMP-9 (n = 10, p<0.001) and combined HGF/mMMP-9 (n = 9, p<0.01) but not with HGF (n = 14, p = 0.15) treatment.