13 It also has been shown that expression of the androgen receptor (AR), a key factor in male sexual phenotype,

was increased as embryonic stem cells proceeded to differentiation, a process initiated after cell proliferation stopped,14 implicating that interruption of androgen/AR signaling may lead to increased stem cell proliferation. Here, we found that targeting AR in BM-MSCs significantly enhanced the self-renewal of BM-MSCs. BM-MSCs treatment using either AR/small interfering RNA (siRNA) or ASC-J9®, an AR degradation enhancer, both lead to better PD-0332991 in vitro therapeutic efficacy to treat liver cirrhosis. Abs, antibodies; Akt, protein kinase B; α-SMA, alpha smooth muscle actin; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AR, androgen receptor; ARKO, AR knockout; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; BAMBI, bone morphogenetic protein and activin membrane-bound inhibitor; BM, bone marrow; BrdU, bromodeoxyuridine; CCL2, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2; CFU-f, colony-forming unit-fibroblast assay; CLD, chronic liver disease; CM, conditioned medium; CXCL1/2, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1 and 2; DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide; EGF, epidermal growth factor; EGFR, EGF receptor; Erk1/2, extracellular signal-related kinase 1 and 2; GFP, green fluorescence protein;

HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; HGF, hepatocyte growth factor; hMSCs, human MSCs; HSCs, hepatic stellate cells; IF, immunofluorescence; IL, interleukin; IL1Ra, interleukin 1 receptor antagonist, IP, intraperitoneal; KO, knockout; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; LT, liver transplantation; MCP-1, monocyte chemotactic protein 1; MMPs, matrix BTK inhibitor metalloproteinases; mRNA, messenger RNA; MSCs, mesenchymal stem

cells; PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen; qRT-PCR, quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; siRNA, small interfering RNA; TAA, thioacetamide; TGFβ1, transforming growth factor beta 1; TIMP-2, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; WT, wild type. MCE CCl4 (Sigma-Aldrich, diluted 1:1 in olive oil; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) or vehicle (olive oil) was administered by intraperitoneal (IP) injection at a dose of 1 mL/kg of body weight twice per week to induce liver cirrhosis. Transplantation of BM-MSCs of wild type (WT) and AR knockout (ARKO) was performed by tail vein injection 1 day after the eighth CCl4 treatment. For knocking down BM-MSCs AR with siRNA, BM-MSCs were infected with lentivirus, which contained either scramble control or AR-siRNA, and green fluorescence protein (GFP). BM-MSCs containing more than 90% GFP-positive signals were prepared to perform transplantation. For ASC-J9®-treated BM-MSCs, BM-MSCs were cultured and treated with either dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or 10 μM of ASC-J9® for 1 week before transplantation. After 8 weeks of treatments (total 16 treatments) with CCl4, mice were sacrificed with pentobarbital, mouse livers were removed to examine for fibrosis, and mouse sera were isolated to assay for liver functions.