Gene dosage of the common risk variant 9p21 predicts the severity of coronary atheromatous burden.

In liver injury, hepatic stellate cells are considered to depart from the sinusoidal wall and accumulate in the necrotic lesion through migration and proliferation. In this study, we investigated the migratory capacity of quiescent stellate cells in vitro and analyzed the relationship with proliferative response. Freshly isolated stellate cells that were seeded in the upper chamber of Cell Culture Insert (Becton Dickenson, Franklin Lakes, NJ) started to migrate to the lower chamber at 1 day and increased in migration index to 19% at 2 days. Cells in the lower chamber were stretched in shape with many lipid droplets and showed quiescent properties, i.e., negative expression of ␣-smooth muscle actin (␣-SMA) or platelet-derived growth factor receptor-␤ (PDGFR-␤). Migratory capacity in quiescent cells was also shown in the Matrigel-coated insert.

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