β-actin: Not a suitable internal control of hepatic fibrosis caused by Schistosoma japonicum

Abstract

Schistosomiasis japonica is a significant health problem that leads to morbidity and mortality of humans. It is characterized by hepatic granulomatous response and fibrosis caused by eggs deposition in the liver. β-actin, a traditional housekeeping gene, is widely used as an internal control to normalize gene and protein expression. However, β-actin expression can fluctuate upon the treatment with pharmacological agents or under some physiological and pathological conditions. In this study, we found that the expressions of both β-actin mRNA and protein increased significantly with hepatic fibrosis formation after 6 weeks infection with Schistosoma japonicum and kept high level during the progression of hepatic fibrosis, while the levels of β-Tubulin and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) remained stable. The dynamic change of β-actin was similar with the profibrogenic factors, including α-SMA, Collagen I, and Collagen III. We employed immunofluorescence staining and further showed that the expression level of β-actin was positively correlated with α-SMA. What is more, there was a positive correlation between the level of β-actin mRNA and the content of hydroxyproline in liver. This study provides evidences that β-actin is variable and unsatisfied for application as an internal control in hepatic fibrosis induced by S. japonicum infection.