Liver fibrosis progression and regression in matrix metalloproteinase-8 deficient mice

Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of enzymes involved in various processes such as modulation of inflammation, matrix remodeling and collagen turnover. MMP-8 plays a yet ill-defined role in liver fibrogenesis and fibrolysis. Thus, we investigated the role of MMP-8 in toxin-induced liver fibrosis and fibrosis regression using MMP-8 knock-out mice. Six week old female MMP-8 KO mice (n = 10 per group) on a C57/BL6J background were treated according to an optimized carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)- and thioacetamide (TAA) fibrosis-induction protocol for 4 weeks and 8 weeks. C57/BL6J wildtype mice were used as…