Small interfering RNA targeting β-arrestin2 promoted apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells

Aim: To investigate the effect of synthetic small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting β-arrestin2 on the apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) in vitro. Methods Synthetic siRNA targeting β-arrestin2 was transfected into HSC-T6 cells by lipofectamine package. Negative siRNA transfection and no transfection were used as negative and blank control, respectively. After incubation with siRNA, total RNA and protein of HSC-T6 cells were extracted. The expression of β-arrestin2 gene and protein was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting. HSC-T6 apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry. The expression of Bcl-2 and Bax were determined by Western blot. Results: After HSC-T6 cells were transfected with β-arrestin2 siRNA, the level of β-arrestin2 mRNA and protein expression was decresed by 70% ±1.76% (P < 0.01) and 68.43% ± 2.88% (P < 0.01) as compared with the control group. Bcl-2 expression was also inhibited by 32.58% ±3.46% (P < 0.01) , while Bax expression was increased by 38.00% ±3.72% (P < 0.01). The apoptosis rate of HSC-T6 transfected with β-arrestin2 siRNA was 37.5% , which was significantly higher than control. Conclusion Inhibition of β-arrestin2 by siRNA may have a potential effect on prevention and treatment of hepatic fibrosis by promoting apoptosis of HSC.