Gene expression profiling of sense and antisense transcripts in liver regeneration by microarray analysis

Liver regeneration is a hyperplastic phenomenon induced by partial hepatectomy (PH) or hepatic damage. A large number of genes have been indicated to be involved in the process of liver regeneration. It was recently reported that natural antisense transcripts are involved in the regulation of gene expression. However, no antisense transcript expressions in liver regeneration have been reported thus far. Therefore, the present study aimed to comprehensively identify up-or downregulated sense and antisense transcripts in liver regeneration using PH mice and a sense/antisense custom-microarray. The results showed that 97 genes were upregulated and 7 genes were downregulated for sense transcripts, whereas 15 genes were upregulated and 2 genes were downregulated for antisense transcripts in regenerating livers as compared to normal livers (P<0.05 and fold change >2.0). Sense and antisense transcripts of the genes, Apoa4, Hp, Fgb and Fgg, exhibited concordant upregulation during the course of liver regeneration. Apoa4, Hp and Fgb transcripts were further investigated by strand-specific reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), revealing results consistent with those of the microarray. In conclusion, the up-or downregulated sense and antisense transcripts identified in the present study are suggested to be involved in liver regeneration.