Cited by 64Liver physiology and pathologyHepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and PrognosisCellular Mechanics and Interactions

Retinoic Acid Receptor‐β Is Downregulated in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Cirrhosis and Its Expression Inhibits Myosin‐Driven Activation and Durotaxis in Hepatic Stellate Cells

Open access
Cortes, Ernesto, Lachowski, Dariusz, Rice, Alistair, Chronopoulos, Antonios, Robinson, Benjamin, Thorpe, Stephen, Lee, David A, Possamai, Lucia A +3 more·2019·Hepatology

Abstract

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are essential perisinusoidal cells in both healthy and diseased liver. HSCs modulate extracellular matrix (ECM) homeostasis when quiescent, but in liver fibrosis, HSCs become activated and promote excess deposition of ECM molecules and tissue stiffening via force generation and mechanosensing. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), activated HSCs infiltrate the stroma and migrate to the tumor core to facilitate paracrine signaling with cancer cells. Because the function of HSCs is known to be modulated by retinoids, we investigated the expression profile of retinoic acid receptor beta (RAR‐β) in patients with cirrhosis and HCC, as well as the effects of RAR‐β activation in HSCs. We found that RAR‐β expression is significantly reduced in cirrhotic and HCC tissues. Using a comprehensive set of biophysical methods combined with cellular and molecular biology, we have elucidated the biomechanical mechanism by which all trans‐retinoic acid promotes HSC deactivation via RAR‐β‐dependent transcriptional downregulation of myosin light chain 2 expression. Furthermore, this also abrogated mechanically driven migration toward stiffer substrates. Conclusion: Targeting mechanotransduction in HSCs at the transcriptional level may offer therapeutic options for a range of liver diseases.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/hep.30193

Cites

47 of 47 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Activation of RAR in HSCs, specifically RAR-β, results in downregulation of MLC-2 expression, which plays a pivotal role in ECM deposition.

    “The activation of RAR in HSCs, specifically RAR-β (NR1B2), results in a downregulation of myosin light chain-2 (MLC-2) expression, which plays a pivotal role in ECM deposition.[178]”

    From Nuclear receptors in liver fibrosis (2021) · cites this paper as [178]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Cortes, E., Lachowski, D., Rice, A., Chronopoulos, A., Robinson, B., Thorpe, S., Lee, D. A., Possamai, L. A., Wang, H., Pinato, D. J., & del Río Hernández, A. E.
Affiliations
  • Cellular and Molecular Biomechanics Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering,Imperial College London,London,United Kingdom
  • Imperial College London (GB)
  • Queen Mary University of London (GB)
  • Tongji University (CN)
  • Hammersmith Hospital (GB)
Corresponding author
Pinato, David J
Venue
Hepatology
Published
2018-12-17
Volume
69
Issue
2
Pages
785-802
ISSN
  • 0270-9139 (ISSN-L)
  • 1527-3350
OpenAlex
W2884101007
Cited by
64
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 6
FWCI
4.23
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Hepatology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Queen Mary Research Online (Queen Mary University of London) (submittedVersion)
  • Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Health Research
  • Cancer Research UK
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research (CL-2015-21-010, CL-2015-21-002)
  • Academy of Medical Sciences (SGL017\1027)
  • Imperial College London
  • Imperial Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/N018532/1)
  • NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre
  • FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (282051)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hepatology › Liver physiology and pathology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hepatology › Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and Prognosis
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Cellular Mechanics and Interactions
Keywords
retinoic acid receptor beta, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver cirrhosis, hepatic stellate cells, myosin light chain 2, mechanotransduction, durotaxis, extracellular matrix stiffness, liver fibrosis, retinoic acid
MeSH terms
Animals, Cell Movement, Carcinoma, Hepatocellular, Humans, Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental, Liver Neoplasms, Tretinoin, Case-Control Studies, Extracellular Matrix Proteins, Receptors, Retinoic Acid, Myosin Light Chains, Cardiac Myosins, Mechanotransduction, Cellular, Mice, Hepatic Stellate Cells, Cellular Microenvironment, Primary Cell Culture

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review