Wang HX, Liu M, Weng SY, Li JJ, Xie C, He HL, Guan W, Yuan YS, Gao J. Immune mechanisms of Concanavalin A model of autoimmune hepatitis. World J Gastroenterol 2012; 18(2): 119-125 [PMID: 22253517 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v18.i2.119]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jin Gao, PhD, Laboratory of Regeneration, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Min Hang District, Shanghai 200240, China. g_jin@sjtu.edu.cn
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2012; 18(2): 119-125 Published online Jan 14, 2012. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v18.i2.119
Immune mechanisms of Concanavalin A model of autoimmune hepatitis
Hai-Xia Wang, Man Liu, Shun-Yan Weng, Jing-Jing Li, Chao Xie, Hong-Lin He, Wen Guan, Yun-Sheng Yuan, Jin Gao
Hai-Xia Wang, College of Sciences, Anhui Science and Technology University, Fengyang 233100, Anhui Province, China
Man Liu, Shun-Yan Weng, Jing-Jing Li, Chao Xie, Hong-Lin He, Wen Guan, Yun-Sheng Yuan, Shanghai Municipality Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Jin Gao, Laboratory of Regeneration, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Author contributions: Wang HX and Liu M were the first authors; Wang HX and Liu M wrote the paper; Weng SY, Li JJ, Xie C, He HL, Guan W and Yuan YS contributed equally to this paper; Weng SY was in charge of revision; Li JJ and He HL contributed new drawing software and made the picture perfect; Xie C, Guan W and Yuan YS made a second revision; and Gao J brought up the idea and organized the manuscript.
Supported by Program for Excellent Talents of Anhui Province, No. 2006JQ1196
Correspondence to: Jin Gao, PhD, Laboratory of Regeneration, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Min Hang District, Shanghai 200240, China. g_jin@sjtu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-21-34205769 Fax: +86-21-34204760
Received: April 20, 2011 Revised: July 6, 2011 Accepted: July 13, 2011 Published online: January 14, 2012
Abstract
As a chronic inflammatory disease of the liver, the pa-thogenic mechanisms of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) have not yet been elucidated, with prognosis and diagnosis remaining unsatisfied. Currently the only viable treatments of AIH are immunosuppressant application and liver transplantation. It is considered that lack of good animal AIH models is the main reason for the shortage of a simple and efficient cure. The Concanavalin A (Con A) model is a typical and well established model for investigating T-cell and macrophage dependent liver injury in mice, which closely mimics the pathogenesis mechanisms and pathological changes of patients, and is regarded as the best experimental model for AIH research so far. In this paper we elucidated the pathogenic mechanisms of AIH and the evolution of relative animal models. We go on to further focus on Con A-induced liver injury from the point of immunological mechanisms and the change of cytokine levels. Finally, we manifested the clinical significance of the AIH animal models and the challenges they would meet during their future development.
