Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 7, 2015; 21(5): 1531-1545
Published online Feb 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i5.1531
Interleukin-22 ameliorates liver fibrogenesis by attenuating hepatic stellate cell activation and downregulating the levels of inflammatory cytokines
Dong-Hong Lu, Xiao-Yun Guo, Shan-Yu Qin, Wei Luo, Xiao-Li Huang, Mei Chen, Jia-Xu Wang, Shi-Jia Ma, Xian-Wen Yang, Hai-Xing Jiang
Dong-Hong Lu, Xiao-Yun Guo, Shan-Yu Qin, Wei Luo, Xiao-Li Huang, Mei Chen, Jia-Xu Wang, Shi-Jia Ma, Xian-Wen Yang, Hai-Xing Jiang, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Author contributions: Lu DH, Guo XY, Qin SY, Luo W performed the experiments; Lu DH analyzed the data; Lu DH, Huang XL, Chen M, Wang JX, Ma SJ, Yang XW contributed to the reagents, materials, and analysis tools; Lu DH wrote the paper; Jiang HX designed this experiment.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81260083; and Grants from the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 2014jjAA40237.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Hai-Xing Jiang, PhD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, No. 22, Shuang Yong Road, Nanning 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. jihaxi@163.com
Telephone: +86-771-5356725 Fax: +86-771-5356725
Received: May 19, 2014
Peer-review started: May 20, 2014
First decision: June 27, 2014
Revised: August 6, 2014
Accepted: October 15, 2014
Article in press: October 15, 2014
Published online: February 7, 2015
Processing time: 266 Days and 5.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: T helper (Th)-22 cells are involved in tissue inflammation and immunity. The presence of Th22 cells and the role of interleukin (IL)-22 in hepatic fibrosis have seldom been reported. The present study examined the frequency of Th22 cells, investigated the expression of IL-22, and determined the effects of recombinant IL-22 on hepatic fibrosis in mice. The aim of this preliminary study was to determine the presence of Th22 cells and the functional characteristics of IL-22 in hepatic fibrosis. The frequency of Th22 cells was elevated in mice with hepatic fibrosis. Recombinant IL-22 ameliorated liver fibrogenesis via attenuation of hepatic stellate cell activation and down-regulation of inflammatory cytokines.