Negative Regulation of Schistosoma japonicum Egg-Induced Liver Fibrosis by Natural Killer Cells
Figure 5
Disruption of the IFN-γ gene accelerates hepatic fibrosis and partially abolish poly I∶C-mediated suppression.
(A–C) Wild-type and IFN-γ−/− mice were infected with 18–20 cercariae of S. japonicum, and injected with poly I∶C (0.5 µg/g, i.p.) or saline from week 5 to week 10 post-infection. All mice were euthanized at week 10 post-infection. (A–B) Liver tissues were subjected to stain for quantifying collage (A) and α-SMA positive areas (B). Data were shown as mean ± SEM from 7–9 mice per each group. *, P<0.05 versus corresponding saline-treated wild-type mice. #, P<0.05 versus corresponding poly I∶C-treated wild-type mice. (C) Intrahepatic IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 mRNA expression levels were measured by quantitative PCR. Results were expressed as fold amplification over normal, uninfected liver following normalization with β-actin. Data were expressed as mean ± SEM (n≥7 for each group).