Journal: Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine

Article Title: Regulation of Autophagy and Metabolism in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Involvement of Wnt‐β‐Catenin Pathway

doi: 10.1111/jcmm.71070

Figure Lengend Snippet: Inhibition of cell viability and colony formation, and induction of apoptosis by riluzole. (A) Expression of stem cell markers in HCC CSCs. CSCs were stained with CD44 and CD133 antibody and the expression of CD44 and CD133 was measured by immunocytochemistry. (B, C) HCC cell lines (HepG2 and Hep3B), cancer stem cells (CSCs), and human normal hepatocytes were seeded in 96‐well plates, treated with or without riluzole (0–40 μM) for 72 h, and cell viability was measured by CellTiter‐Glo Luminescent Cell Viability Assay (Promega). (D) Colony formation. HCC cell lines (HepG2, Hep3B, SNU‐382 and SNU‐475) and CSCs were treated with riluzole (0–20 μM). Number of colonies formed at 21 days was counted under a microscope. (E) Normal human hepatocytes, HCC cell lines (HepG2 and Hep3B) and CSCs were treated with riluzole (0–20 μM) for 72 h. Apoptosis was measured by TUNEL assay. Data represent mean ± SD ( n = 4). *, # and % = significantly different from control and each other; p < 0.05.

Article Snippet: Human normal hepatocytes were purchased from ATCC.

Techniques: Inhibition, Expressing, Staining, Immunocytochemistry, Cell Viability Assay, Microscopy, TUNEL Assay, Control

Journal: PLoS Pathogens

Article Title: Lipoprotein Receptors Redundantly Participate in Entry of Hepatitis C Virus

doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005610

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Relative mRNA expression of VLDLR in various tissues was determined using the NextBio Body Atlas application. (B) mRNA expression of SR-B1, LDLR, VLDLR and GAPDH in Huh7 cells and primary human hepatocyte (PHH) were determined by qRT-PCR. Relative expression levels of mRNA were calculated based on the expression level of GAPDH. (C) VLDLR-HA was exogenously expressed in parental, SR-KO, LD-KO and SR/LD-DKO Huh7 cells by infection with lentiviral vectors. Expressions of VLDLR in these cells were determined by immunoblotting analysis (upper panel). Parental, CD81 KO and SR/LD-DKO Huh7 cells expressing SR-B1, LDLR or VLDLR were infected with HCVcc at an MOI of 1 and intracellular HCV RNA levels were determined at 24 h post-infection (lower panel). (D) VLDLR-HA was exogenously expressed in CD81 KO, CLDN1 KO and OCLN KO Huh7 cells by infection with lentiviral vectors. Expressions of VLDLR, CD81, CLDN1 and OCLN in these cells were determined by immunoblotting analysis (upper panel). Cells were infected with HCVcc at an MOI of 1 and intracellular HCV RNA levels were determined at 24 h post-infection by qRT-PCR (lower panel). (E) SR-B1, LDLR and VLDLR were exogenously expressed in SR/LD-DKO Huh7 cells by infection with lentiviral vectors. Cells were infected with Con1-JFH1 or Jc1 at an MOI of 1, and intracellular HCV RNA levels were determined at 24 h post-infection by qRT-PCR. (F) Sera (100μl) from chimeric mice infected with HCV were inoculated into SR/LD-DKO Huh7 cells expressing either SR-B1, LDLR or VLDLR in 24 well plate. Intracellular HCV RNA levels were determined at 72 h post-infection. In all cases, asterisks indicate significant differences (*P<0.05; **P<0.01) versus the results for control cells.

Article Snippet: The primary human hepatocyte (PHH) was purchased from PhoenixBio.

Techniques: Expressing, Quantitative RT-PCR, Infection, Western Blot, Control

Journal: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Article Title: Application of hepatocyte-like cells to enhance hepatic safety risk assessment in drug discovery

doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0228

Figure Lengend Snippet: Figure outlining the main contributing functions to severity and frequency of drug-induced hepatotoxicity. In the simplest form, hazard either arises due to the chemistry of the drug or is predominantly dependent on the unusual biology within a susceptible individual. Hazards from the chemistry of the drug should be detected in appropriate in vitro models or animal models in the form of the dose–response curve with relevant hepatic safety endpoints—and in general is predictable. When combining a mild hazard from the drug, where the majority of patients do not experience any adverse effects, with the hepatocyte biology within the susceptible patient—there are currently no in vitro or animal models that are able to be used as predictive of potential hepatotoxicity. HLA, human leucocyte antigen; NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease).

Article Snippet: One model system (Hemoshear), currently employs primary human hepatocytes (not iPSCs) to model human fatty liver disease with lipotoxic stress [ 44 ].

Techniques: In Vitro

Journal: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Article Title: Application of hepatocyte-like cells to enhance hepatic safety risk assessment in drug discovery

doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0228

Figure Lengend Snippet: Positioning and performance expectations of hepatic safety assays. Earlier routine risk assessment assays have generally been validated with +100 compounds, which either cause or are clean for hepatotoxicity. These assays are designed to remove the worst offending chemistry, cover the main mechanisms responsible for hepatotoxicity and have defined sensitivity and specificity characteristics. At later stages of the pipeline, there is potential for refining risk assessment to patients by engineering susceptibility characteristics into hepatocytes such that functionality is altered, which may affect sensitivity to certain compounds. TS, target selection; LOID, lead optimization investment decision; CDID, candidate drug investment decision; DMPK, drug metabolism pharmacokinetics.

Article Snippet: One model system (Hemoshear), currently employs primary human hepatocytes (not iPSCs) to model human fatty liver disease with lipotoxic stress [ 44 ].

Techniques: Refining, Selection, Drug discovery