Regulation of liver regeneration by interference with TNF alpha mediated inflammation

The study examined the role of TNF alpha in regulation of liver regeneration. For this purpose animals were divided in three groups of healthy controls, 2/3 partial hepatectomy alone, and animals pretreated with TNF alpha antagonist followed by 2/3 partial hepatectomy. Liver regeneration responses were then examined in conjunction with gene expression analysis at the peak of partial hepatectomy induced DNA synthesis. Substantive differences were identified in multiple gene ontology groups and cellular events and processes to indicate that TNF alpha was deleterious for partial hepatectomy induced liver regeneration. Study groups were adult rats, three in each group of healthy; 2/3 hepatectomy pretreated with saline as vehicle alone control, and experimental group treated with etanercept for 16-18 hrs before partial hepatectomy. RNA specimens extracted from livers of animals 32 hrs after partial hepatectomy were pooled in each group and used to generate RNA-seq on Iron Torrent platform