This detailed volume explores hepatic stellate cells, which have become a spotlight of liver cell biology due to their pleiotropic functions that extend well beyond extracellular matrix production to pivotal roles in hepatic homeostasis, immunity, and metabolism. The book features methods to isolate, evaluate, and manipulate this cell type in an effort to elucidate hepatic biology and establish prospects for treating disease. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step and readily reproducible laboratory protocols, as well as tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.  Authoritative and practical, Hepatic Stellate Cells: Methods and Protocols serves as an ideal aid to help researchers accelerate the outstanding science that has steadily unveiled the mysteries of stellate cell biology and their role in disease.

Kruppel-like factors (KLFs) are attracting great attention across a wide spectrum of biological sciences and medicine because of their remarkable biological potency and the diversity of roles they play in the physiological and pathological changes of cells and tissues. This book is a comprehensive compendium of the latest research on the molecular mechanisms of KLFs, describing their roles in transcriptional regulation, cellular differentiation and development, the pathogenesis of the liver and cardiovascular systems and cancer, and generation of ES cells and iPS cells. As the only concise treatise written to date by leading experts in the field, it serves as an authoritative review of this family of molecules and is an essential reference for all who are interested in KLFs. The book also explores the potential of KLFs as targets for novel therapeutics and diagnostics, and will be invaluable in those fields.

Kruppel-like factors (KLFs) are attracting great attention across a wide spectrum of biological sciences and medicine because of their remarkable biological potency and the diversity of roles they play in the physiological and pathological changes of cells and tissues. This book is a comprehensive compendium of the latest research on the molecular mechanisms of KLFs, describing their roles in transcriptional regulation, cellular differentiation and development, the pathogenesis of the liver and cardiovascular systems and cancer, and generation of ES cells and iPS cells. As the only concise treatise written to date by leading experts in the field, it serves as an authoritative review of this family of molecules and is an essential reference for all who are interested in KLFs. The book also explores the potential of KLFs as targets for novel therapeutics and diagnostics, and will be invaluable in those fields.

KLF6 is a ubiquitously expressed Krppel-like transcription factor whose role in vitro and in vivo role has not been fully identified. Like other members of the Krppel-like family, KLF6 contains a conserved iterminal three zinc finger DNA-binding domain (C2H2 motifs) and a unique N-terminal transactivation domain. KLF6 directly binds DNA at GC box promoter elements. Transcriptional targets of KLF6 include collagen 1, transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF1), types I and II TGF receptors, urokinase type plasminogen activator (uPA), and the human immunodeficiency virus long terminal repeat (HIV-1 LTR). Here, we identify a novel mechanism of carcinogenesis, whereby oncogenic Ras signaling enhances alternative splicing-mediated inactivation of the KLF6 tumor suppressor in hepatocellular carcinomas. These Ras-dependent splice forms are shown to abrogate KLF6-mediated growth suppression, and ectopic KLF6 splice variant expression can restore a Ras-transformed phenotype.