Differential Roles of JNK in ConA/GalN and ConA-Induced Liver Injury in Mice

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha-mediated liver injury can be induced by several different means; however, the signaling events and mechanisms of cell death are likely different. We investigated the mechanism of both apoptotic and necrotic hepatocyte cell death as well as the role of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) in the ConA and ConA/D-galactosamine (GalN) models of murine liver injury. ConA alone induced primarily necrotic cell death with no caspase activation, whereas ConA/GalN induced apoptosis in addition to necrotic cell death. The bi-modal death pattern in the ConA/GalN model was confirmed by the use of transgenic mice expressing a dominant-negative form of Fas-associated death domain in…