Search results for " hepatocytes"
showing 4 items of 24 documents
GALACTOSE-DECORATED POLYMERIC CARRIERS FOR HEPATOCYTE-SELECTIVE DRUG TARGETING
2015
In this paper, the current available strategies to realize galactose-decorated nanostructured polymeric systems are summarized. These carriers are designed in order to obtain targeted drug delivery to hepatocytes via galactose (GAL) moieties, i.e., for the treatment of viral hepatitis or liver cancer that are the greater causes of global disability and mortality. Usually, the main followed strategy to obtain galactosylated polymeric carriers is to use galactosylated copolymers. The chemical modifications of preformed polymers with sugar-containing reagents is followed for obtaining lactosaminated human albumin, galactosylated phospholipid-polyaminoacid and polylactide (PLA)- polyaminoacid c…
The stable repression of mesenchymal program is required for hepatocyte identity: A novel role for hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α
2011
The concept that cellular terminal differentiation is stably maintained once development is complete has been questioned by numerous observations showing that differentiated epithelium may undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program. EMT and the reverse process, mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET), are typical events of development, tissue repair, and tumor progression. In this study, we aimed to clarify the molecular mechanisms underlying these phenotypic conversions in hepatocytes. Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) was overexpressed in different hepatocyte cell lines and the resulting gene expression profile was determined by real-time quantitative polymerase…
An epistatic mini-circuitry between the transcription factors Snail and HNF4α controls liver stem cell and hepatocyte features exhorting opposite reg…
2011
Preservation of the epithelial state involves the stable repression of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition program, whereas maintenance of the stem compartment requires the inhibition of differentiation processes. A simple and direct molecular mini-circuitry between master elements of these biological processes might provide the best device to keep balanced such complex phenomena. In this work, we show that in hepatic stem cell Snail, a transcriptional repressor of the hepatocyte differentiation master gene HNF4α, directly represses the expression of the epithelial microRNAs (miRs)-200c and-34a, which in turn target several stem cell genes. Notably, in differentiated hepatocytes HNF4α, p…
TGFβ-induced EMT requires focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signaling
2007
The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial process, occurring both during development and tumor progression, by which an epithelial cell undergoes a conversion to a mesenchymal phenotype, dissociates from initial contacts and migrates to secondary sites. We recently reported that in hepatocytes the multifunctional cytokine TGFβ induces a full EMT characterized by (i) Snail induction, (ii) E-cadherin delocalization and down-regulation, (iii) down-regulation of the hepatocyte transcriptional factor HNF4α and (iv) up-regulation of mesenchymal and invasiveness markers. In particular, we showed that Snail directly causes the transcriptional down-regulation of E-cadherin and HN…