The immortalized normal human cholangiocyte cell line, H69, was a gift from Dr. G.J. Gores, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Immortalized murine normal pooled cholangiocyte lines were also used.(10 (link)) Human LSCs were purchased from Creative Bioarray (Shirley, NY). The human hepatic stellate cells,(20 (link)) human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and human hepatocytes (HHs) were purchased from Sciencell (Carlsbad, CA). The human acute monocytic leukemia cell line (THP-1) was purchased from ATCC Inc. (Manassas, VA) and maintained in Roswell Park Memorial Institute 1640 medium (Sigma-Aldrich) with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) without antibiotics.