Induction & Inhibition of Fibrotic State Using a Novel Biologic Therapeutic

A client requested a custom project to measure fibrosis induction and inhibition in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs).

Goals:

• Evaluate the ability of TGF-beta to induce a fibrotic state in healthy, human, primary HSCs.
• Evaluate the ability of a biologic, therapeutic agent to inhibit fibrotic induction phenotypic metrics.
• Compare the performance of the therapeutic agent with a control compound.

Cell Model

Primary, human, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs)

Palette

Hoechst (nuclei)
Anti-α-SMA (α-SMA fibers)
Phalloidin (F-actin filaments)

Treatments and Timelines

• Culture cells in 384-well, imaging plates.
• Serum starve cells prior to treatment with therapeutic agents and fibrotic inducer TGF-β.
• Fix and stain cells.
  
  

Deliverables

• Metrics such as cell count, fiber length, fiber intensity, fiber alignment, co-localization of F-actin with α-SMA, and cell morphology

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGES & QUANTITATIVE DATA