Abstract
Background: During liver regeneration, 95% of the resting hepatocytes enter in G1/S phase of the cell cycle. A number of hormones, growth factors and cytokines were identified that activate signal transduction pathways playing a primary role in hepatocyte proliferation. A wide and representative cDNA library containing 1.5Β ΓΒ 10^6^ independent clones was constructed from regenerating liver in order to identify and characterize gene the products which play a crucial role in the first hours of the proliferative process of liver regeneration.
Results: A novel gene expressed in liver regeneration was cloned by subtractive hybridization. The putative protein displays in the Nβ²βterminal a annexinβlike domain and an aminopeptidase domain. We named the novel gene Liver Annexin Likeβ1 (lalβ1). The lalβ1 gene is modulated during liver regeneration, in hepatoma cells following physiological stimulation and after cAMP induction.
Conclusion: The results indicate that lalβ1 is involved in liver regeneration and that its expression is finely regulated during proliferative process. The isolation of lalβ1 paves the way for a further characterization helping to assess lalβ1 involvement in cell function and proliferation.