Aim:Liver fibrosis represents a process of healing and scarring in response to chronic liver injury.Effective therapies for liver fibrosis are lacking.Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a cytokine that downregulates pro-inflammatory responses and has a modulatory effect on hepatic fibrogenesis.The aim of this study was to investigate whether electroporative IL-10 gene therapy has an hepatic fibrolytic effect on mice.Methods:Hepatic fibrosis was induced by administering carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) for 10 weeks in mice.The human IL-10 expression plasmid was delivered via electroporation after hepatic fibrosis was established.Histopathology,reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) ,immunoblotting,and gelatin zymography were used to investigate the possible mechanisms of action of IL-10.Results:Human IL-10 gene therapy reversed CCl4-induced liver fibrosis in mice.RT-PCR revealed that IL-10 gene therapy attenuated liver TGF-β1,collagen αl,fibronectin,and cell adhesion molecule mRNA upregulation.Following gene transfer,both the activation of α-smooth muscle actin and cyclooxygenase-2 were significantly attenuated.Furthermore.IL-10 significantly inhibited matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP) activation after CCl4 intoxication.Conclusions:We demonstrated that IL-10 gene therapy attenuated CCl4-induced liver fibrosis in mice.IL-10 prevented upregulated fibrogenic and pro-inflammatory gene responses.Its collagenolytic effect may be attributed to MMP and TIMP modulation.IL-10 gene therapy may be an effective therapeutic modality against liver fibrosis with potential clinical use.