Attenuation of CCl4-Induced Hepatic Fibrosis in Mice by Vaccinating against TGF-β1
Figure 3
Vaccination with TGF-β1 kinoids suppresses HSC activation in CCl4-induced fibrotic mouse livers.
The vaccination and CCl4 injection were performed as indicated in Figure 2A. After the 6-week CCl4 intoxication, immunohistochemistry for α-SMA (A) and subsequent quantitative computer-assisted morphometric analysis (B) demonstrated that the TGF-β1 kinoid vaccination significantly reduced the α-SMA-positive areas in the CCl4-induced fibrotic mouse livers. Bars = 200 μm. The error bars indicate SEM. (C) Western blotting showed that repeated CCl4 injection induced Smad2/3 phosphorylation (pSmad2/3), an indicator of TGF-β signaling activity, in the mouse liver tissues whereas vaccination with TGF-β1 kinoids attenuated Smad2/3 phosphorylation in the fibrotic liver tissues.