In vivo hepatic reprogramming of myofibroblasts with AAV vectors as a therapeutic strategy for liver fibrosis. Mus musculus

We developed in vivo reprogramming of myofibroblasts (MFs) into induced hepatocytes (MF-iHeps) using adeno-associated virus serotype 6 (AAV6) vectors expressing hepatic transcription factors in MF fate tracing (Lrat-Cre;R26R-ZsGreen) mice with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis. To determine whether MF-iHeps acquire full hepatocyte differentiation, we used microarrays to profile their global gene expression. Overall design: We isolated MF-iHeps and primary hepatocytes (Heps) from the same mice by laser-capture microdissection (5 and 3 biological replicates, respectively) and hepatic MFs from CCl4-treated littermates isolated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (3 biological replicates). Total RNA was extracted, transcribed, amplified and biotin labeled. Labeled cDNA targets were hybridized to GeneChip Mouse Gene 1.0 ST arrays (Affymetrix).