Cited by 307Liver physiology and pathologyCytokine Signaling Pathways and InteractionsOrgan Transplantation Techniques and Outcomes

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 48 of the 49 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 18 of the 68 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

STAT3 Contributes to the Mitogenic Response of Hepatocytes during Liver Regeneration

Open access
Li, Wei, Liang, Xianping, Kellendonk, Christoph, Poli, Valeria, Taub, Rebecca·2002·Journal of Biological Chemistry

Abstract

STAT3 is rapidly induced during liver regeneration in an interleukin 6 (IL-6)-dependent fashion, and IL-6 is required for normal liver regeneration. We wanted to know whether STAT3 was also required for liver regeneration but disruption of the STAT3 gene during embryonic stages causes lethality. Therefore, an albumin promoter-driven Cre-loxP recombination system was used to create a STAT3 deletion in the adult mouse liver to study the role of STAT3 in liver regeneration. After partial hepatectomy, there was virtually no STAT3 RNA or protein induction in Alb(+) STAT3(fl/fl) livers. STAT3 DNA binding activity was also absent in Alb(+) STAT3(fl/fl) livers. Unlike in control livers, STAT1 was activated in STAT3 conditional-mutant livers posthepatectomy. Hepatocyte DNA synthesis at 40 h posthepatectomy in Alb(+) STAT3(fl/fl) livers was reduced to approximately one-third of the control. Alb(+) STAT3(fl/fl) livers had abnormalities in immediate-early gene activation that largely correlated with but were not identical to those seen in IL-6-/- livers. G(1) phase cyclins including cyclins D1 and E had lower expression levels in Alb(+) STAT3(fl/fl) livers, indicating an abnormal G(1) to S phase transition. Therefore, STAT3 accounts for part of the DNA synthetic response of the hepatocytes during liver regeneration, which cannot be compensated for by induction of STAT1. Normal activation of the MAPK pathway in Alb(+) STAT3(fl/fl) livers reinforces the fact that at least part of the effect of IL-6 on hepatocyte proliferation is not mediated by STAT3. This study provides the first in vivo evidence that STAT3 promotes cell cycle progression and cell proliferation under physiological growth conditions.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

Using an albumin promoter–driven Cre-loxP system to delete STAT3 in adult mouse liver, this study shows that STAT3 is required for part of the hepatocyte DNA synthetic response after partial hepatectomy. It provides the first in vivo evidence that STAT3 promotes cell cycle progression under physiological growth conditions.

Key findings

  • STAT3 deletion was efficient: more than 90% deletion of the STAT3 gene, with virtually no STAT3 mRNA, nuclear protein, or DNA binding activity in Alb+STAT3fl/fl livers after partial hepatectomy.
  • Hepatocyte DNA synthesis at 40 h posthepatectomy in Alb+STAT3fl/fl livers was reduced to approximately one-third of control (a 3-fold difference, p < 0.02), with reduced DNA synthesis at other time points; liver mass was nonetheless regained normally after 1 week with no sign of injury.
  • In the absence of STAT3, STAT1 was activated instead: a high level of a complex migrating at the STAT1 homodimer position appeared posthepatectomy, confirmed by supershift with anti-STAT1 but not anti-STAT3 antibody, and nuclear STAT1 protein was markedly induced.
  • Immediate-early gene activation was abnormal but not identical to IL-6−/− livers: c-fos and junB were significantly reduced at all time points, c-myc peak activation was delayed, IGFBP-1 was reduced 2-fold at 2 h (vs. more than 3-fold in IL-6−/−), and Egr-1 was up-regulated rather than down-regulated. Of 10 STAT3 target genes, only 1 (lymphotoxin receptor) had not previously been identified as an IL-6 target.
  • G1 phase cyclins were partially impaired: cyclin D1 was normal early but reduced at the peak of DNA synthesis (40 h) and remained low; cyclin E induction was delayed until 32 h (vs. 16 h in controls) and lower at later time points.
  • MAPK activation followed the same kinetics as controls with no consistent or significant difference in phosphorylated Erk1 or Erk2 at any time point, supporting STAT3 and MAPK as independent IL-6 signaling pathways.

Methods

  • Liver-specific STAT3 conditional knockout: STAT3fl/fl mice crossed to albumin promoter–driven Cre transgenic mice to generate Alb+STAT3fl/fl mice and Alb−STAT3fl/fl littermate controls; F1 progeny used in all experiments.
  • 8–12-week-old mice underwent two-thirds partial hepatectomy (left lateral and median lobes removed) and were sacrificed at various time points; BrdUrd immunohistochemistry quantified labeled hepatocyte nuclei in 12 random 20× fields (~200 cells/field).
  • Analyses included Northern blot, Western blot of whole and nuclear liver extracts, electrophoretic mobility shift assay with supershift, cDNA microarray of RNA at 2 h posthepatectomy, and serum index testing.

Limitations

  • Stated by the paper: whether STAT1 can substitute for STAT3 in binding HNF-1 requires further analysis; it is unknown whether cyclin E is regulated by IL-6 during liver regeneration because cyclin E expression was not examined in IL-6−/− livers; other IL-6-activated signaling pathways important for normal liver cell function during regrowth await characterization.
  • Evident from the text: the microarray comparison was performed at a single time point (2 h posthepatectomy), and the mechanism by which STAT3 normally inhibits STAT1 activation is described as unknown.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1074/jbc.m202807200

Cites

48 of 48 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

18 of 68 cited sources checked · 8 supported · 1 flagged · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 76 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 14
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 21
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
32 of 32
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The STAT3 conditional deletion in the liver is specific to hepatocytes and does not affect other liver cell types.

    “The albumin promoter was chosen to drive the Cre recombinase to obtain liver-specific deletion of the STAT3 gene.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The STAT1 DNA binding activity observed in Alb+STAT3fl/fl livers represents functional STAT1 signaling capable of compensating for STAT3 loss.

    “Unlike in control livers, STAT1 was activated in STAT3 conditional-mutant livers posthepatectomy.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The immediate-early gene expression changes at 2 h posthepatectomy are causally responsible for the subsequent hepatocyte DNA synthesis at 40 h.

    “This is the first in vivo evidence that STAT3 promotes cell cycle progression and cell proliferation by up-regulating immediate-early growth response genes.”
3 of 3

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?

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Show all 49 references

1 of the 49 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Higgins, 1931, Arch. Pathol., 12, 186
  2. Mohn, 1991, Mol. Cell. Biol., 11, 1393
  3. Coffer, 1995, Oncogene, 10, 985
  4. Roselli, 1998, Am. J. Physiol., 275, G1472

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Items 201–300 of 306

Metadata

Authors
Li, W., Liang, X., Kellendonk, C., Poli, V., & Taub, R.
Affiliations
  • University of Pennsylvania (US)
  • Columbia University (US)
  • University of Dundee (GB)
Corresponding author
Taub, Rebecca
Venue
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2002-08
Volume
277
Issue
32
Pages
28411-28417
ISSN
0021-9258 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2052467994
Cited by
307
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 23
FWCI
8.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Biological Chemistry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Institutional Research Information System University of Turin (University of Turin) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (5r01dk058315-05, 5p30dk050306-29)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK 58315, P30DK50306)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hepatology › Liver physiology and pathology
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Cytokine Signaling Pathways and Interactions
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Organ Transplantation Techniques and Outcomes
Keywords
STAT3, liver regeneration, hepatocyte proliferation, interleukin-6, STAT1, partial hepatectomy, G1/S transition, MAPK signaling, hepatocyte DNA synthesis
MeSH terms
Animals, Bromodeoxyuridine, Cell Division, DNA, DNA-Binding Proteins, Immunohistochemistry, Liver, Regeneration, Time Factors, Blotting, Northern, Blotting, Western, Signal Transduction, Trans-Activators, DNA, Complementary, Cyclin E, Cyclin D1, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, MAP Kinase Signaling System, Hepatocytes, STAT1 Transcription Factor, STAT3 Transcription Factor, Mice

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.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-23, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-23 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).

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