- About this Journal
- Abstracting and Indexing
- Aims and Scope
- Annual Issues
- Article Processing Charges
- Articles in Press
- Author Guidelines
- Bibliographic Information
- Citations to this Journal
- Contact Information
- Editorial Board
- Editorial Workflow
- Free eTOC Alerts
- Publication Ethics
- Reviewers Acknowledgment
- Submit a Manuscript
- Subscription Information
- Table of Contents
BioMed Research International
Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 192738, 11 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/192738
Gene Silencing of 4-1BB by RNA Interference Inhibits Acute Rejection in Rats with Liver Transplantation
1Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221002, China
2Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, China
Received 5 September 2012; Accepted 18 December 2012
Academic Editor: Andrew St. John
Copyright © 2013 Yang Shi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The 4-1BB signal pathway plays a key role in organ transplantation tolerance. In this study, we have investigated the effect of gene silencing of 4-1BB by RNA interference (RNAi) on the acute rejection in rats with liver transplantation. The recombination vector of lentivirus that contains shRNA targeting the 4-1BB gene (LV-sh4-1BB) was constructed. The liver transplantation was performed using the two-cuff technique. Brown-Norway (BN) recipient rats were infected by the recombinant LVs. The results showed that gene silencing of 4-1BB by RNAi downregulated the 4-1BB gene expression of the splenic lymphocytes in vitro, and the splenic lymphocytes isolated from the rats with liver transplantation. LV-sh4-1BB decreased the plasma levels of liver injury markers including AST, ALT, and BIL and also decreased the level of plasma IL-2 and IFN-γ in recipient rats with liver transplantation. Lentivirus-mediated delivery of shRNA targeting 4-1BB gene prolonged the survival time of recipient and alleviated the injury of liver morphology in recipient rats with liver transplantation. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that gene silencing of 4-1BB by RNA interference inhibits the acute rejection in rats with liver transplantation.