Activated hepatic stellate cells impair NK cell anti-fibrosis capacity through a TGF-β-dependent emperipolesis in HBV cirrhotic patients

作者：Shi, Jijing; Zhao, Juanjuan; Zhang, Xin; Cheng, Yongqian; Hu, Jinhua; Li, Yuanyuan; Zhao, Xin; Shang, Qinghua; Sun, Yanling; Tu, Bo; Shi, Lei; Gao, Bin; Wang, Fu-Sheng^*; Zhang, Zheng^*

来源：Scientific Reports, 2017, 7(1): 44544.

DOI：10.1038/srep44544

• LIVER FIBROSIS
• C VIRUS
• T-CELLS
• AUTOIMMUNE HEPATITIS
• KUPFFER CELLS
• INJURY
• PATHOGENESIS
• LYMPHOCYTES
• APOPTOSIS
• DIAGNOSIS

Natural killer (NK) cells can induce liver fibrosis remission by killing hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and producing interferon (IFN)-gamma in a mouse model; however, their anti-fibrotic immune-characteristics and regulatory mechanisms by HSCs remain to be determined, especially in livers from HBV-infected liver cirrhosis (LC) patients. We analyzed frequency, phenotype and anti-fibrotic function of hepatic and peripheral NK subsets in 43 HBV-LC patients. We found that hepatic NK subsets from LC patients displayed a decreased frequency, activation status and anti-fibrotic activity compared with those from chronic hepatitis B patients, which were mainly mediated by increased intrahepatic tumour-growth factor (TGF)-beta because blockade of TGF-beta significantly reversed NK anti-fibrotic function in vitro. In vivo, hepatic NK cells were enriched in proximity to the alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA+) area within mild fibrosis regions; while in severe fibrotic areas, they were either directly attached to or separated from the alpha-SMA+ region. NK cells from LC patients could enter HSCs to form emperipolesis (a cell-in-cell structure) and become apoptotic; anti-TGF-beta treatment ameliorated this emperipolesis. This finding suggested a novel mechanism by which activated HSCs impair NK cells' anti-fibrosis capacity through a TGF-beta-dependent emperipolesis in LC patients, providing an anti-fibrotic rational by enhancing NK cell activity.

• 出版日期2017-3-14
• 单位中国人民解放军第八十八医院; 北京大学; 中国人民解放军第三０二医院