Fig. 1. Cortistatin gene expression is downregulated in mouse and human fibrotic livers. (A ) The levels of cortistatin gene expression (normalized and expressed as log2 values) were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database based on the gene chips of fibrotic liver tissues associated to hepatitis B virus (HBV: healthy livers in Scheuer’s stage S0 versus high-fibrotic livers in Scheuer’s stage S4), hepatitis C virus-induced hepatocarcinoma (HCV: healthy versus cirrhotic livers), and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD: livers in mild versus advanced stages). The number of patients in each group is shown. Data are shown with box plots and comparisons between groups were analyzed using unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test. (B ) mRNA expression of cortistatin in livers collected from naïve mice, mice with CCl4-induced toxic fibrosis and mice subjected to bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced cholestatic fibrosis (5 mice/group). Gene expression was determined by real-time qPCR and data are relative to the expression of housekeeping RPLP0 gene. Data are the mean±SEM. *p<0.05, **p<0.01 vs. naïve liver, using unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test.