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Review
. 2023 Jun 28;29(24):3748-3757.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i24.3748.

Vascular endothelial growth factor protein and gene delivery by novel nanomaterials for promoting liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy

Yun Jin  1 , Ying-Hao Guo  1 , Jia-Cheng Li  2 , Qi Li  1 , Dan Ye  1 , Xiao-Xiao Zhang  1 , Jiang-Tao Li  3
Affiliations
Review

Vascular endothelial growth factor protein and gene delivery by novel nanomaterials for promoting liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy

Yun Jin et al. World J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Partial hepatectomy (PH) can lead to severe complications, including liver failure, due to the low regenerative capacity of the remaining liver, especially after extensive hepatectomy. Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), whose proliferation occurs more slowly and later than hepatocytes after PH, compose the lining of the hepatic sinusoids, which are the smallest blood vessels in the liver. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), secreted by hepatocytes, promotes LSEC proliferation. Supplementation of exogenous VEGF after hepatectomy also increases the number of LSECs in the remaining liver, thus promoting the reestablishment of the hepatic sinusoids and accelerating liver regeneration. At present, some shortcomings exist in the methods of supplementing exogenous VEGF, such as a low drug concentration in the liver and the reaching of other organs. More-over, VEGF should be administered multiple times and in large doses because of its short half-life. This review summarized the most recent findings on liver regeneration and new strategies for the localized delivery VEGF in the liver.

Keywords: Liver regeneration; Liver resection; Nano materials; Vascular endothelial growth factor.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: We declare that we have no conflict of interest to this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic Illustration of liver after partial hepatectomy. After partial hepatectomy, hepatocytes begin to proliferate and release vascular endothelial growth factor, which promotes the proliferation of bone marrow-derived progenitor cells (BM SPCs) and reconstruction of hepatic sinusoids. BM SPCs secrete hepatocyte growth factor, which provides positive feedback and promotes hepatocytes proliferation. This figure was created with BioRender (BioRender.com). VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; HGF: Hepatocyte growth factor; BM SPCs: Bone marrow-derived progenitor cells.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Preparation of hydrogel nanofiber. A: Illustration of the electrostretching setup; B: Effect of alginate solution feeding rate on the diameter of hydrogel microfibres; C-F: Various crosslinking mechanisms have been employed to crosslink alginate, gelatin, fibrin and hyaluronic acid hydrogel microfibers; G: Hydrogel microfibres of any desired length can be prepared; H: When dispersed in water, alginate hydrogel fibres formed a loose network of hydrogel fibres; I: A 10-g metal pillar was lifted with an alginate hydrogel microfibre bundle; J and K: A micro-knot was made with two alginate hydrogel microfibres; L and M: Beyond microfibre bundles, these hydrogel microfibres can also be fabricated into other forms like fibrous films (L) and self-supporting hydrogel tubes (M). Reproduced with permission[32]. Citation: Zhang S, Liu X, Barreto-Ortiz SF, Yu Y, Ginn BP, DeSantis NA, Hutton DL, Grayson WL, Cui FZ, Korgel BA, Gerecht S, Mao HQ. Creating polymer hydrogel microfibres with internal alignment via electrical and mechanical stretching. Biomaterials 2014; 35: 3243-3251. Copyright© The Authors 2013, Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Illustration of PEI-DNA nanoparticle preparation via flash nanocomplexation and the proposed trafficking steps along the GI tract. Reproduced with permission[49]. Citation: Nie T, He Z, Zhou Y, Zhu J, Chen K, Liu L, Leong KW, Mao HQ, Chen Y. Surface Coating Approach to Overcome Mucosal Entrapment of DNA Nanoparticles for Oral Gene Delivery of Glucagon-like Peptide 1. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2019; 11: 29593-29603. Copyright© The Authors 2019. Published by American Chemical Society.
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