Abstract: Objective To explore the effects of Chlorgenic acid (CGA) on TGF-β1 induced the change of human renal tubular epithelial HK-2 cell fibrotic factors change and the underlying mechanism. Methods HK-2 cells were cultured in vitro. CCK-8 assay was conducted to detect cell proliferation. Immunofluorescence assay was used to detect the expression of collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ. RT-qPCR was used to detect mRNA expression of HK-2 cell fibrosis related genes. Western blot assay was carried out to detect protein expression of TLR4/NF-κB pathway. Results The proliferation rate of cells in different CGA treated groups at different time points showed no differences. The expression of collagen Ⅰ,collagen Ⅲ,α-SMA,vimentin,TGF-β1,snail and slug increased while E-cadherin decreased in TGF-β1 group(P＜0.05). CGA reversed these expression changes induced by TGF-β1. Further, CGA inhibited TGF-β1 induced TLR4, p-IκBα and p-NF-κB expression (P＜0.05). Conclusions Chlorgenic acid can inhibit TGF-β1 induced increase of fibrotic factors expression in human renal tubular epithelial HK-2 cell through suppressing activation of TLR4/NF-κB pathway.

Key words: chlorgenic acid, human renal tubular epithelial cell, fibrotic factor, TLR4/NF-κB signal pathway