High Mobility Group Box-1 Promotes the Proliferation and Migration of Hepatic Stellate Cells via TLR4-Dependent Signal Pathways of PI3K/Akt and JNK

摘要

BackgroundThe migration of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is essential to the hepatic fibrotic response, and recently High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) has been shown up-regulated during liver fibrosis. Nevertheless, whether HMGB1 can modulate the proliferation and migration of HSCs is poorly understood, as well as the involved intracellular signaling. In this study, we examined the effect of HMGB1 on proliferation, migration, pro-fibrotic function of HSCs and investigated whether toll-like family of receptor 4 (TLR4) dependent signal pathway is involved in the intracellular signaling regulation.