Up-regulation of FUT8 inhibits TGF-β1-induced activation of hepatic stellate cells during liver fibrogenesis.

Liver fibrosis is a continuous wound healing response caused by chronic liver injury, and the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is considered as the main event for it. Core fucosylation catalyzed by FUT8 refers to adding the fucosyl moiety to the innermost GlcNAc residue of N-linked oligosaccharides and is involved in many biological processes such as cell differentiation, migration, and signaling transduction. Aberrant core fucosylation is associated with a variety of diseases including cardiovascular disease, tumors and neuroinflammation, but much less is understood in liver fibrosis. Herein, we reported FUT8 mRNA level was increased in patients with liver fibrosis from GEO database and positively correlated with fibrosis progression. FUT8 expression and the core fucosylation were also elevated in TAA-induced mouse liver fibrosis model, and were mainly distributed in the fibrous septum of mouse liver. TGF-β1, as the most pro-fibrogenic cytokine, could promote the expression of FUT8 and total core fucosylation levels in HSCs in vitro. However, up-regulation of FUT8 in turn inhibited TGF-β1-induced trans-differentiation, migration and pro-fibrogenic signaling pathways in HSCs. In conclusion, our results suggest that the up-regulation of FUT8 inhibits TGF-β1-induced HSC activation in a negative feedback loop, and provide potential new therapeutic strategy for liver fibrosis by targeting FUT8.