AIM: To investigated if paclitaxel can attenuate hepatic fi brosis in rat hepatic stellate cells (RHSCs). METHODS: RHSCs were cultured in vitro and randomly assigned to four groups: normal control group (treated only with Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium), Taxol group (200 nmol/L paclitaxel was added to the cell culture), transforming growth factor (TGF)-β group (5 ng/mL recombinant human TGF-β1 was added to the cell culture), and TGF-β + Taxol group. TGF-β signaling cascade and status of various extracellular matrix proteins were evaluated by real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. RESULTS: The paclitaxel treatment markedly suppressed Smad2/3 phosphorylation. This was associated with attenuated expression of collagen Ⅰ and Ⅲ and fi bronectin in RHSCs.CONCLUSION: These data indicate that 200 nmol/L paclitaxel ameliorates hepatic fi brosis via modulating TGF-β signaling, and that paclitaxel may have some therapeutic value in humans with hepatic fi brosis.
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