{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T16:06:45Z","timestamp":1787069205568,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,18]],"date-time":"2023-06-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1687046400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003725","name":"the Korean government (MEST)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2019R1I1A1A01057379"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019R1I1A1A01057379"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003725","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003725","name":"the Korean government (MEST)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2022R1C1C2008830"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022R1C1C2008830"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003725","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cells"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Liver fibrosis is the most common feature of liver disease, and activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the main contributors to liver fibrosis. Thus, finding key targets that modulate HSC activation is important to prevent liver fibrosis. Previously, we showed that thymosin \u03b24 (T\u03b24) influenced HSC activation by interacting with the Hedgehog pathway in vitro. Herein, we generated T\u03b24 conditional knockout (T\u03b24-flox) mice to investigate in vivo functions of T\u03b24 in liver fibrosis. To selectively delete T\u03b24 in activated HSCs, double-transgenic (DTG) mice were generated by mating T\u03b24-flox mice with \u03b1-smooth muscle actin (\u03b1-Sma)-Cre-ERT2 mice, and these mice were administered carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) or underwent bile duct ligation to induce liver fibrosis. T\u03b24 was selectively suppressed in the activated HSCs of DTG mouse liver, and this reduction attenuated liver injury, including fibrosis, in both fibrotic models by repressing Hedgehog (Hh) signaling. In addition, the re-expression of T\u03b24 by an adeno-associated virus reversed the effect of HSC-specific T\u03b24 deletion and led to liver fibrosis with Hh activation in CCl4-exposed mice treated with tamoxifen. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that T\u03b24 is a crucial regulator of HSC activation, suggesting it as a novel therapeutic target for curing liver fibrosis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cells12121658","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,19]],"date-time":"2023-06-19T01:31:14Z","timestamp":1687138274000},"page":"1658","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Targeted Deletion of Thymosin Beta 4 in Hepatic Stellate Cells Ameliorates Liver Fibrosis in a Transgenic Mouse Model"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Jieun","family":"Kim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of System Biology, Pusan National University, Pusan 46241, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Integrated Biological Science, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan 46241, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chanbin","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of System Biology, Pusan National University, Pusan 46241, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Integrated Biological Science, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan 46241, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5317-9409","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jinsol","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Integrated Biological Science, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan 46241, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hayeong","family":"Jeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Integrated Biological Science, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan 46241, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sihyung","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"New Drug Development Center, Daegu Gyeongbuk Medical Innovation Foundation, Daegu 41061, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1454-3124","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yung Hyun","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Dong-Eui University College of Korean Medicine, Pusan 47227, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2189-0658","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Youngmi","family":"Jung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Integrated Biological Science, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan 46241, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan 46241, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1172\/JCI24282","article-title":"Liver fibrosis","volume":"115","author":"Bataller","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. 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