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.