The pharmacological antagonist of the chemokine CCL5 (RANTES) Met-Rantes reduces experimental liver fibrosis in vivo

Aims: Chronic liver inflammation leads to an activation of hepatic stellate cells with a consecutive excess of extracellular matrix proteins resulting in liver fibrosis. However, little is known about the factors mediating the interaction between inflammatory cells and hepatic stellate cells. We herein identify the inflammatory chemokine CCL5/RANTES which can be targeted by the competitive CCL5 antagonist Met-CCL5 as a central mediator of this interaction. Methods: Liver fibrosis was induced in C57BL/6 mice by intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 (0.8mg/kg, 6 weeks). Simultaneously, mice received either Met-CCL5 (1…