Fasudil prevents liver fibrosis via activating natural killer cells and suppressing hepatic stellate cells

Figure 4 Fasudil can promote natural killer cell activation via extracellular signal-related kinase and nuclear factor kappa B signaling pathways. A: Natural killer (NK)-92 cells were treated with different concentrations of Fasudil (5 mM, 10 mM) for 24 h in vitro, and extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) levels were detected by western blotting. Then mononuclear cells from the livers of normal mice were isolated and then treated with Fasudil (5 mM, 10 mM) for 24 h in vitro; B: 1 × 10⁴ LX2 cells were seeded into 96-well plates. NK-92 cells pretreated with Fasudil (10 mM) were added at different ratios (1:20, 1:10, or 1:5) for 12 h. Then the cytotoxicity was analyzed; C-E: Frequencies of CD69⁺ NK cells (C), NKG2D NK cells, and NKG2A NK cells (D), as well as the proportion of IFN-γ-producing NK cells (D) were analyzed by FACS (E). Data represent the mean ± SD from at least three independent experiments. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001.