1. TGF-beta and CTGF have overlapping and distinct fibrogenic effects on human renal cells
- Author
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Eddie L. Greene, Maria Trojanowska, Debra J. Hazen-Martin, Malgorzata Markiewicz, Elizabeth Gore-Hyer, Gary R. Grotendorst, Shianlen Lo, and Daniel Shegogue
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Proline ,Physiology ,Renal glomerulus ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Blotting, Western ,Genetic Vectors ,Connective tissue ,Biology ,Kidney ,Transfection ,Adenoviridae ,Immediate-Early Proteins ,Extracellular matrix ,Kidney Tubules, Proximal ,Fibrosis ,Transforming Growth Factor beta ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,RNA, Messenger ,Antibodies, Blocking ,Growth Substances ,Luciferases ,Cells, Cultured ,integumentary system ,Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Growth factor ,Connective Tissue Growth Factor ,Epithelial Cells ,medicine.disease ,Blotting, Northern ,Epithelium ,Recombinant Proteins ,Glomerular Mesangium ,CTGF ,Endocrinology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Cancer research ,Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ,Transforming growth factor ,Plasmids - Abstract
Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) are ubiquitously expressed in various forms of tissue fibrosis, including fibrotic diseases of the kidney. To clarify the common and divergent roles of these growth factors in the cells responsible for pathological extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition in renal fibrosis, the effects of TGF-β and CTGF on ECM expression in primary human mesangial (HMCs) and human proximal tubule epithelial cells (HTECs) were studied. Both TGF-β and CTGF significantly induced collagen protein expression with similar potency in HMCs. Additionally, α2(I)-collagen promoter activity and mRNA levels were similarly induced by TGF-β and CTGF in HMCs. However, only TGF-β stimulated collagenous protein synthesis in HTECs. HTEC expression of tenascin-C (TN-C) was increased by TGF-β and CTGF, although TGF-β was the more potent inducer. Thus both growth factors elicit similar profibrogenic effects on ECM production in HMCs, while promoting divergent effects in HTECs. CTGF induction of TN-C, a marker of epithelial-mesenchymal transdifferentiation (EMT), with no significant induction of collagenous protein synthesis in HTECs, may suggest a more predominant role for CTGF in EMT rather than induction of excessive collagen deposition by HTECs during renal fibrosis.
- Published
- 2002