Thrombospondin-1 expression correlates with angiogenesis in experimental cirrhosis

AIM：To investigate the significance of Thrombospondin-1 （TSP-1） expression and its relationship with angiogenesis during experimental fibrosis. METHODS：Cirrhosis was induced in male Wistar rats by intraperitoneal administration of diethyl nitrosamine （DEN）. The serial sections from liver tissues were stained with anti-CD34 and anti-TSP-1 antibodies before being quantitated by light microscopy. RESULTS：Our results showed that of TSP-1 expression gradually increases according to the severity of fibrosis （GroupⅠvs group Ⅱ, Group Ⅲ and Group Ⅳ;Group Ⅱ vs group Ⅲ and group Ⅳ;group Ⅲ vs group Ⅳ, P 〈 0.05）. Moreover, TSP-1 expression was found to be correlated with angiogenesis （P 〈 0.05）. CONCLUSION：The correlative evidence of the link between TSP-1 and fibrosis or angiogenesis provided by this study suggests that besides its role as a strong promoter of transforming growth factor-β1 （TGF-β1）, TSP-1 might have an additional role in liver fibrogenesis by stimulating angiogenesis and this protein could be a potential target to prevent fibrogenesis in chronic inflammatory diseases of the liver.