Hepatic Overexpression of PDGF-B in Transgenic Mouse Model Leads to Cell Apoptosis

PDGF-B is the strongest mitogenic factor for mesenchymal cells. Transgenic mice with liver-specific overexpression of PDGF-B under controll of the murine albumin promoter have been shown to develop fibrotic lesions in the liver. Expression of the transgene in act-cre/PDGF-B double transgenic mice from early embryonic stages or tamoxifen-induced transgene expression in adult animals- ttr-cre/PDGF-B mice, results in proliferation/activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) and similar fibrotic phenotype of the liver differing only in severity grade. There are also data that show a proapoptotic effects of PDGF-B. We…