The Characteristics Variation of Hepatic Progenitors after TGF-β1-Induced Transition and EGF-Induced Reversion

Figure 2

Hepatic oval cells maintained their progenitor immunophenotype in the EMT/MET process. (a) Hepatic oval cells expressed AFP, ALB, and CK19 after 16-day TGF-β1 incubation and 7-day EGF-reversion cells. (b) Real-time PCR analysis showed that 16-day TGF-β1 incubation increased AFP and CK19 transcription of hepatic oval cells, while EGF time-dependently reduced AFP and CK19 transcription to the level of control cells at 7 d. ALB transcription did not change during the EMT/MET process. (c) Western blot analysis also showed that TGF-β1 increase AFP and CK19 expression, whereas EGF downregulated AFP and CK19 expression in a time-dependent manner. ALB expression also did not change during EMT/MET process.

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