Matrix metalloproteinase, hepatocyte growth factor, and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase during human liver regeneration

摘要

To the editor:We read with great interest the article 'Expres-sion of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and-14 persists during early resolution of experimen-tal liver fibrosis and might contribute to fibrolysis by Zhou et al. (1). This article focused on MMP for liver collagen degradation. On the other hand, recent report (2) also showed the interesting strategy that MMP and tissue inhibitor of metal-loproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) regulate hepatic growth factor (HGF) release from extracellular matrix and control hepatocyte cell cycle. These studies with previous findings suggested that MMP and TIMP play important roles in not only hepatic fibrosis but also extracellular matrix remodeling in rodent liver regeneration, because proteolytic degradation of the extracellular matrix is an essential feature of tissue remodeling (3-7). cDNA microarray analysis also revealed the up-regulation of many ECM-related genes in mouse hepatectomy models (8). However, the clinical significance of MMP and TIMP during human liverregeneration is still unclear.