Reviewer's report
Title:Effect of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells on hepatic fibrosis
in a thioacetamide-induced cirrhotic rat model
Version:3Date:16 June 2014
Reviewer: Jung-Hwan Yoon
Reviewer's report:
The authors reported the therapeutic potential of human bone marrow-derived
mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) on hepatic fibrosis in a cirrhotic rat model.
The experiments were well done, and MSCs-based cytotherapy showed
promising results; however, a few issues are still remaining to be clarified for
accepting the conclusion.
- Major Compulsory Revisions
1. It is not certain whether the effect of human BM-MSCs on hepatic fibrosis is
induced by engraftment of transplanted cells and differentiation into hepatocytes.
The authors need to show in vivo cell tracking of injected cells, and in vitro data
showing differentiation of BM-MSCs into hepatocytes may be also required. If it is
not possible, please explain the reason.
2. The authors described that “BM-MSCs modulated the TGF-#1/Smad signaling
pathway by attenuating TGF-#1 and Smad3 expression and inhibiting Smad3
phosphorylation.” However, definite mechanism underlying the suppression of
TGF-#1/Smad signaling is not clearly explained in the manuscript. In fact,
attenuation of TGF-#1/Smad pathway could be the results of decreased fibrosis,
rather than the cause.
3. In the “Histological and immunohistochemical analysis” paragraph of results
section, data about #-SMA immunohistochemistry was not presented.
- Minor Essential Revisions
1. Definition of G1, G2, and G3 should be described.
2. It would be better to show the mean value of Laennec fibrosis score of each
group.
3. MSCs were directly injected into the right lobe of the fibrotic liver. Did the
authors perform experiments using tissue nearby the injection site only (i.e. right
lobe) or the whole liver? Was the anti-fibrotic effect of BM-MSCs also observed in
the left lobe?
- Discretionary Revisions
None
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Reviewer's report
Title:Effect of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells on hepatic fibrosis
in a thioacetamide-induced cirrhotic rat model
Version:3Date:16 June 2014
Reviewer: Jung-Hwan Yoon
Reviewer's report:
The authors reported the therapeutic potential of human bone marrow-derived
mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) on hepatic fibrosis in a cirrhotic rat model.
The experiments were well done, and MSCs-based cytotherapy showed
promising results; however, a few issues are still remaining to be clarified for
accepting the conclusion.
- Major Compulsory Revisions
1. It is not certain whether the effect of human BM-MSCs on hepatic fibrosis is
induced by engraftment of transplanted cells and differentiation into hepatocytes.
The authors need to show in vivo cell tracking of injected cells, and in vitro data
showing differentiation of BM-MSCs into hepatocytes may be also required. If it is
not possible, please explain the reason.
2. The authors described that “BM-MSCs modulated the TGF-#1/Smad signaling
pathway by attenuating TGF-#1 and Smad3 expression and inhibiting Smad3
phosphorylation.” However, definite mechanism underlying the suppression of
TGF-#1/Smad signaling is not clearly explained in the manuscript. In fact,
attenuation of TGF-#1/Smad pathway could be the results of decreased fibrosis,
rather than the cause.
3. In the “Histological and immunohistochemical analysis” paragraph of results
section, data about #-SMA immunohistochemistry was not presented.
- Minor Essential Revisions
1. Definition of G1, G2, and G3 should be described.
2. It would be better to show the mean value of Laennec fibrosis score of each
group.
3. MSCs were directly injected into the right lobe of the fibrotic liver. Did the
authors perform experiments using tissue nearby the injection site only (i.e. right
lobe) or the whole liver? Was the anti-fibrotic effect of BM-MSCs also observed in
the left lobe?
- Discretionary Revisions
None
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Effect of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells on hepatic fibrosis
in a thioacetamide-induced cirrhotic rat model
Version:3Date:16 June 2014
Reviewer: Jung-Hwan Yoon
Reviewer's report:
The authors reported the therapeutic potential of human bone marrow-derived
mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) on hepatic fibrosis in a cirrhotic rat model.
The experiments were well done, and MSCs-based cytotherapy showed
promising results; however, a few issues are still remaining to be clarified for
accepting the conclusion.
- Major Compulsory Revisions
1. It is not certain whether the effect of human BM-MSCs on hepatic fibrosis is
induced by engraftment of transplanted cells and differentiation into hepatocytes.
The authors need to show in vivo cell tracking of injected cells, and in vitro data
showing differentiation of BM-MSCs into hepatocytes may be also required. If it is
not possible, please explain the reason.
2. The authors described that “BM-MSCs modulated the TGF-#1/Smad signaling
pathway by attenuating TGF-#1 and Smad3 expression and inhibiting Smad3
phosphorylation.” However, definite mechanism underlying the suppression of
TGF-#1/Smad signaling is not clearly explained in the manuscript. In fact,
attenuation of TGF-#1/Smad pathway could be the results of decreased fibrosis,
rather than the cause.
3. In the “Histological and immunohistochemical analysis” paragraph of results
section, data about #-SMA immunohistochemistry was not presented.
- Minor Essential Revisions
1. Definition of G1, G2, and G3 should be described.
2. It would be better to show the mean value of Laennec fibrosis score of each
group.
3. MSCs were directly injected into the right lobe of the fibrotic liver. Did the
authors perform experiments using tissue nearby the injection site only (i.e. right
lobe) or the whole liver? Was the anti-fibrotic effect of BM-MSCs also observed in
the left lobe?
- Discretionary Revisions
None
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
assistant