MicroRNA expression profile of human hepatic stellate cells LX-2 co-cultured with human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells and control group

Hepatic stellate cells(HSCs) are the main effector cells of liver fibrosis. In order to study the effect of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) on microRNAs expression of HSCs, we co-cultured HSCs LX-2 activated by TGFβ1 with human umbilical cord MSCs(hUC-MSCs) for 48 hours, and compared the differentially expressed miRNA with LX-2 cultured alone by high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that two mature microRNAs expressed increased, and nine expressed decreased. Human HSCs line LX-2 cells were treated with TGFβ1 (10 ng/mL) for 24 h in DMEM without serum for activation. To evaluate the effects of the MSCs on activated HSCs, indirect coculture in Transwell chamber was used. LX-2 cells were cultured in the lower membrane layer, and hUC-MSCs were cultured in the upper semi-permeable membrane. Cells were divided into two groups: i) experimental group, hUC-MSCs and LX-2 cells were co-cultured for 48h, ii) Control group, LX-2 cells were cultured alone, each group with 3 replicates.