RIP3 deficiency attenuated hepatic stellate cell activation and liver fibrosis in schistosomiasis through JNK-cJUN/Egr1 downregulation

Dear Editor,Activated hepatic stellate cells(HSCs)synthesizing a large amount of extracellular matrix(ECM)are the key events to hepatic fibrosis.1 However,there are no effective drugs for curing liver fibrosis in the clinic.1 Therefore,clarifying the formation mechanism of liver fibrosis is of great importance for finding anti-liver fibrosis drug targets.Recently,an increasing amount of research has shown that necroptosis regulated by receptor-interacting protein kinase 3(RIP3)plays an important role in inflammatory disease injury and could be used as a drug target.2 We found that RIP3 was highly expressed in liver tissues of wildtype(WT)mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum(S.japonicum),mainly at 6 w(weeks)and 8 w post-infection(Fig.1a)。