Background & Aims
Proinflammatory and profibrotic cytokines such as osteopontin (OPN) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha receptor 1 (TNFR1) may be critically involved in the pathogenesis of cholangiopathies and biliary fibrosis. We therefore aimed to determine the role of genetic loss of either OPN or TNFR1 in 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine (DDC)-fed mice as a model of xenobiotic-induced sclerosing cholangitis with biliary-type liver fibrosis using respective knock-out mice.
Methods
OPN and TNFR1 knock-out mice were fed a 0.1% DDC-supplemented diet for 4 weeks and compared to corresponding wild type (WT) controls. Liver morphology (H&E staining), serum markers of liver injury and cholestasis (ALT, AP, bilirubin), markers of inflammation in liver (CD11b and F4/80 immunostaining, mRNA expression of iNOS, MCP-1, IL-1β, INF-γ, TNF-α, and OPN), degree of ductular reaction (immunohistochemistry with morphometric analysis and Western blotting for cholangiocyte specific marker keratin 19) and degree of liver fibrosis (Sirius red-staining, hepatic hydroxyproline content for quantification) were compared between groups.
Results
DDC feeding in OPN and TNFR1 knock-out mice and respective WT controls resulted in comparable extent of liver injury, inflammatory response, ductular reaction, and liver fibrosis.
Summary & Conclusions
Our data indicate that genetic loss of neither OPN nor TNFR1 significantly impacts on the pathogenesis of DDC-induced sclerosing cholangitis, ductular reaction and resulting biliary fibrosis.