Direct versus NK-mediated in vitro effects of CpG on HSCs cultures.

<p>Liver NK cells obtained from naïve (plain bars) and fibrotic mice treated with CpG (black bars) <i>versus</i> vehicle (gray bars) were <i>in </i><i>vitro</i> co-cultured with WT isolated HSCs; then HSCs proliferation were determined as described in Materials and Methods. A) Isolated HSCs mono-cultured with 1% FCS-enriched DMEM showed a significant increase of proliferation following direct CpG incubation (vertical gradient bars) as compared to DMEM vehicle-treated cells (horizontal gradient bars). B) Co-culture with the CpG-treated NK cells decreased HSCs proliferation (<i>P</i><0.01) as compared to controls. C) Co-culture of liver NK cells from fibrotic CpG-treated mice with HSCs increased their adherence (<i>P</i><0.01) as compared to the vehicle-treated fibrotic NK cells. D & E) NK increased adherence (<i>P</i><0.01) and cytotoxic marker CD107a (<i>P</i>=0.01) when HSCs were cultured with lymphocytes from fibrotic CpG-treated mice.