Abstract: Objective To investigate the changes of cell cycle,apoptosis and proliferation of hepatic stellate cells（HSC）-T6 by inhibition of connective tissue growth factor（CTGF）by siRNA in vitro. Methods Recombinant lentiviruses containing siRNA targeted to GTGF were constructed and we let it infected HSC-T6 cells. Cell cycles and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry with PI staining. Cell proliferation was measured by MTT. Results Suppression of GTGF induced the apoptosis of and reduced the proliferation of HSC-T6 cells; The percentage of apoptosis cells was 17.58 ± 5.81%,which was significantly higher than in blank control （5.12 ± 1.21%）and in negative control（1.37 ± 0.31%）;The frequency of S cells was remarkably increased（53.24± 4.47%）with CTGF gene silence as compared with that（44.80± 4.701%）in blank control and that（42.10± 1.40%）in negative control;Meanwhile,the percentage of G2-M cells（0.04± 0.07%）was significantly decreased as compared with that（9.03± 0.45%）in blank control and that （12.19± 5.62%） in negative control. However,the G0-G1 cells were not influenced by inhibition of CTGF. Conclusion Inhibition of GTGF promotes the apoptosis and decreases the activation and proliferation of HSC-T6 cells. CTGF gene silence may serve as a new target to treat the liver fibrosis.

Key words: Hepatic stellate cells, Connective tissue growth factor, Cell cycle, Apoptosis