CXC chemokines mediate hepatic inflammation and injury following ischemia/reperfusion (I/ R). More recently, signaling through CXC chemokine receptor-2 (CXCR2) was shown to delay liver recovery and repair after I/R injury. The chemokine receptor CXCR1 shares ligands with CXCR2, yet nothing is known about its potential role in liver pathology. In the present study, we examined the role of CXCR1 in the injury and recovery responses to I/R using a murine model. CXCR1 expression was undetectable in livers of sham-operated mice. However, after ischemia CXCR1 expression increased 24 hours after reperfusion and was maximal after 96 hours of reperfusion. CXCR1 expression was localized largely to hepatocytes. In order to assess the function of CXCR1, CXCR22/2 mice were treated with the CXCR1/CXCR2 antagonist, repertaxin. Prophylactic treatment with repertaxin had no effect on acute inflammation or liver injury. However, when repertaxin was administered 24 hours postreperfusion there was a significant increase in hepatocellular injury and a delay in recovery compared to control-treated mice. CXCR12/2 mice also demonstrated delayed recovery and regeneration after I/R when compared to wild-type mice. In vitro, hepatocytes from CXCR2 2/2 mice that were stimulated to express CXCR1 showed increased proliferation in response to ligand. Hepatocyte proliferation was decreased in CXCR1 2/2 mice in vivo. Conclusion: This is the first report to show that CXCR1 expression is induced in hepatocytes after injury. Furthermore, the data suggest that CXCR1 has divergent effects from CXCR2 and appears to facilitate repair and regenerative responses after I/R injury. (HEPATOLOGY 2011;53:261-271) I schemia/reperfusion (I/R) of the liver often occurs as a result of liver resection surgery, transplantation, and trauma, and is a primary cause of subsequent liver dysfunction.1-3 The recovery and regeneration of the liver after I/R is associated with the temporal expression of cell cycle control proteins. 4 Recent data from our laboratory has demonstrated that this process is regulated by signaling through CXC chemokine receptor-2 (CXCR2). 5 These studies demonstrated that deletion or pharmacological blockade of CXCR2 increased hepatocyte proliferation and liver regeneration in association with increased activation of the transcription factors, nuclear factor-jB (NF-jB) and signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3). Furthermore, we showed that ligands of CXCR2 have direct, dose-dependent effects on hepatocytes to regulate cell death or proliferation.
5The ligands for CXCR2 are comprised of a subclass of CXC chemokines which possess the amino acid sequence Glu-Leu-Arg (ELR motif ) in the amino terminus.6,7 However, CXCR2 is not the only receptor for ELR þ CXC chemokines. In humans, CXC chemokine receptor-1 (CXCR1) also binds many of these ligands and has both overlapping and independent Abbreviations: ALT, alanine amino transferase; BrdU, 5-bromo-2 0 -deoxyuridine; CXCR1, CXC chemokine receptor-1; CXCR2, CXC chemokine receptor-...