PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Zhijin chen
AU  - Akshay Jain
AU  - Hao Liu
AU  - Zhen Zhao
AU  - Kun Cheng
TI  - Targeted Drug Delivery to Hepatic Stellate Cells for the Treatment of Liver Fibrosis
AID  - 10.1124/jpet.118.256156
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
PG  - jpet.118.256156
4099  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2019/03/18/jpet.118.256156.short
4100  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2019/03/18/jpet.118.256156.full
AB  - Liver fibrosis is caused by excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix during chronic liver injuries. Although clinical evidences suggest that liver fibrosis can be reversed, there is no standard therapy for liver fibrosis. Moreover, there is a lack of diagnostic tools to detect early-stage liver fibrosis. Activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is the key step during liver fibrogenesis, and its mechanism has been extensively studied by various cell culture and animal models. Targeted delivery of therapeutic agents to activated HSCs is therefore critical for the successful treatment of liver fibrosis. A number of protein markers have been found to be overexpressed in activated HSCs, and their ligands have been utilized to specifically deliver various anti-fibrotic agents. In this review, we will summarize these HSC-specific protein markers and their ligands for targeted delivery of anti-fibrotic agents.