REGULAR ARTICLES

Cell Research (2002); 12(5-6):353-361

Cloning and characterization of a mouse liver-specific gene mfrep-1, upregulated in liver regeneration

Jun YAN¹, Hao YING¹, Fei GU², Jin HE³, Yu Li LI³, Hui Min LIU³, Yong Hua XU^1,*

¹Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yueyang Road, Shanghai 200031, China
²Department of Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China
³Department of Pathology, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200003, China

Received Jul-4-2002  Revised Oct-25-2002  Accepted Oct-28-2002

Correspondence: Prof. Yong Hua XU Tel and Fax: 0086-21-64711349  E-mail: yhxu@sunm.shcnc.ac.cn

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Abbreviations: HFREP-1/LFIRE-1, human fibrinogen-related protein-1/liver fibrinogen-related protein-1; MFREP-1, mouse fibrinogen-related protein-1; PHx, partial hepatectomy; a.a., amino acid.
Genbank accession number: The cDNA sequence reported here was deposited in GenBank. MFREP-1, AF478470.

Abstract

 Human fibrinogen-related protein-1/liver fibrinogen-related protein-1 (HFREP-1/LFIRE-1), a liver-specific protein, is a member of fibrinogen superfamily that exerts various biological activities. However, the function of HFREP-1/LFIRE-1 in liver remains unknown. Here we isolated its mouse ortholog gene-mouse fibrinogen-related protein-1 (mfrep-1), which encoded 314 amino acids, exhibiting 80.4% similarity to HFREP-1/LFIRE-1. Northern blot analysis revealed that 1.2-kb mfrep-1 mRNA was detected selectively in mouse liver. To explore the function of MFREP-1, we examined the levels of mfrep-1 mRNA during regeneration after 70% partial hepatectomy (PHx) in mice. mfrep-1 mRNA increased in the regenerating liver and reached the first shoulder peak at 2-4 h after PHx. Cycloheximide pretreatment could suppress the induction of mfrep-1, indicating the up-regulation of this gene need de novo protein synthesis. Its mRNA continued to elevate at 6 h thereafter and reached the second peak at 24 h. The enhanced expression of mfrep-1 maintained high until 72 h and then declined slowly to the basal level. Immunohistochemistry assessment confirmed the up-regulated expression of MFREP-1 protein in parenchymal cells during liver regeneration. These data suggested that MFREP-1 might play an important role in liver regeneration and be involved in the regulation of cell growth.

Key words: mfrep-1, in silico cloning, liver regeneration, liver-specific expression.