中文摘要：

AIM To investigate the effects of activated rat hepaticstellate cells （HSCs） on rat Th1/Th2 profile in vitro .METHODS： Growth and survival of activated HSCs andCD4＋ T lymphocytes cultured alone or together wasassessed after 24 or 48 h. CD4＋ T lymphocytes werethen cultured with or without activated HSCs for 24 or48 h and the proportion of Th1 [interferon （IFN）-γ＋]and Th2 [interleukin （IL）-4＋] cells was assessedby flow cytometry. Th1 and Th2 cell apoptosis wasassessed after 24 h of co-culture using a caspase-3staining procedure. Differentiation rates of Th1 andTh2 cells from CD4＋ T lymphocytes that were positivefor CD25 but did not express IFN-γ or IL-4 were alsoassessed after 48 h of co-culture with activated HSCs.Galectin-9 expression in HSCs was determined byimmunofluorescence and Western blotting. ELISA wasperformed to assess galectin-9 secretion from activatedHSCs.RESULTS： Co-culture of CD4＋ T lymphocytes withactivated rat HSCs for 48 h significantly reduced theproportion of Th1 cells compared to culture-aloneconditions （-1.73% ± 0.71%; P 〈 0.05）, whereas theproportion of Th2 cells was not altered; the Th1/Th2ratio was significantly decreased （-0.44 ± 0.13; P 〈0.05）. In addition, the level of IFN-γ in Th1 cells was decreased （-65.71 ± 9.67; P 〈 0.01）, whereas thelevel of IL-4 in Th2 cells was increased （82.79 ± 25.12;P 〈 0.05） by co-culturing, as measured by meanfluorescence intensity by flow cytometry. Apoptosisrates in Th1 （12.27% ± 0.99%; P 〈 0.01） and Th2（1.71% ± 0.185%; P 〈 0.01） cells were increased 24h after co-culturing with activated HSCs; the Th1 cellapoptosis rate was significantly higher than in Th2cells （P 〈 0.01）. Galectin-9 protein expression wassignificantly decreased in HSCs only 24 h after coculturing（P 〈 0.05） but not after 48 h. Co-culture for48 h significantly increased the differentiation of Th1and Th2 cells; however, the increase in the proportionof Th2 cells was significantly higher than that of Th1cell