Hepatic nephroblastoma overexpressed (NOV/CCN3) in experimental liver fibrosis models

NOV/CCN3 is a matricellular protein of the CCN family, comprising CCN1 (CYR61), CCN2 (CTGF), CCN4 (WISP-1), CCN5 (WISP-2), and CCN6 (WISP-3). CCN proteins are involved in mitosis, adhesion, apoptosis, extracellular matrix production, growth arrest and migration of multiple cell types. Compared with CTGF, NOV has been studied to a lesser degree and its biological role in liver fibrosis remains primarily unknown. We therefore investigated hepatic expression of NOV in chronic liver injury upon long term CCl4 treatment and bile duct ligation (BDL) rat models. NOV gene expression was quantified by TaqMan RT-PCR, immu…