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FK506 promotes liver regeneration by suppressing natural killer cell activity
Author(s) -
TAMURA FUSAKO,
MASUHARA ASAAKI,
SAKAIDA ISAO,
FUKUMOTO ETSUO,
NAKAMURA TOSHIKAZU,
OKITA KIWAMU
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1746.1998.tb00717.x
Subject(s) - medicine , regeneration (biology) , liver regeneration , natural (archaeology) , cell , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , biochemistry , biology , paleontology
We examined the mechanism of promotion of liver regeneration by tacrolimus hydrate (FK506), a potent immunosuppressant, after partial hepatectomy. The administration of FK506 significantly increased the bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labelling index at 36 and 48 h after 70% hepatectomy compared with the placebo group. Using the same model, we examined the effect of FK506 on the expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1) and found no changes in HGF and TGF‐β1 mRNA expression in the liver or in the HGF protein concentration in plasma. We found that pretreatment with FK506 markedly reduced the activity and number of liver‐resident natural killer (NK) cells at the time of partial hepatectomy. Our observations suggest that the promotion of liver regeneration by FK506 may be attributable to a reduction in the number of liver‐resident NK cells and to inhibition of their activity.