β-catenin/TCF4 inhibitors ICG-001 and LF3 alleviate BDL-induced liver fibrosis by suppressing LECT2 signaling

Liver fibrosis can be characterized by the over-deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM). It has been reported that β-catenin/TCF4 interaction was enhanced in bile duct ligation (BDL) model, which implicated the critical role of β-catenin/TCF4 interaction during the progression of fibrosis. However, whether inhibiting β-catenin/TCF4 signaling attenuates liver fibrosis remains unknown. In the current study, we used ICG-001, an inhibitor that disrupts the interaction between CREB binding protein (CBP) and β-catenin, to inhibit β-catenin/TCF4 transcriptional activity. We also used LF3, a small molecule antagonist, to inhibit β-catenin/TCF4 interaction. The antifibrotic effect of ICG-001 and LF3 was assessed on BDL-induced liver fibrosis model. The results indicated both ICG-001 and LF3 significantly reduced the positive staining area of Sirius Red and α-SMA. The protein expression levels of α-SMA, Collagen Ⅰ and CD31 were also significantly downregulated in BDL + ICG-001 and BDL + LF3 groups. Besides, ICG-001 and LF3 promoted portal angiogenesis and inhibited sinusoids capillarization in fibrotic livers. For mechanistic study, we measured the level of leukocyte cell-derived chemotaxin 2 (LECT2), a direct target of β-catenin/TCF4, which was recently reported to participate in hepatic fibrosis by regulating angiogenesis. The results showed that both ICG-001 and LF3 reduced LECT2 expression in BDL mice. LF3 also downregulated pSer 675 β-catenin and nuclear β-catenin. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that inhibiting β-catenin/TCF4 signaling by ICG-001 or LF3 mitigated liver fibrosis by downregulating LECT2, promoting portal angiogenesis and inhibiting sinusoids capillarization, which provided new evidence that β-catenin/TCF4 signaling might be a target for the treatment of liver fibrosis.