Transforming growth factor-β and smooth muscle differentiation

At the Crossroad of Transforming Growth Factor-β Signaling and Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Contractility

Aortic aneurysm and dissections account for 1% to 2% of all deaths in the Western countries, and the incidence of thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is ≈10.4 per 100 000 personyears. Furthermore, because acute aortic dissections might be disguised as heart attacks, true incidence numbers could be significantly higher. Aortic aneurysms are categorized into 2 main groups depending on their location: ...

Transforming growth factor-β

Dna2 was first characterized in yeast as an essential gene encoding a protein with both helicase and endonuclease activities involved in maturation of Okazaki fragments during DNA replication. Dna2 also plays a role in double-strand break (DSB) repair by homolo-gous recombination. The respective contributions of its replication and/or repair functions toward cell viability and resistance to gen...

Notch and Transforming Growth Factor- (TGF ) Signaling Pathways Cooperatively Regulate Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Differentiation*

Notch and transforming growth factor(TGF ) play pivotal roles during vascular development and the pathogenesis of vascular disease. The interaction of these two pathways is not fully understood. The present study utilized primary human smooth muscle cells (SMC) to examine molecular cross-talk between TGF 1 and Notch signaling on contractile gene expression. Activation of Notch signaling using N...

Choosing Smads: smooth muscle origin-specific transforming growth factor-β signaling.

Transforming Growth Factor- –Induced Differentiation of Smooth Muscle From a Neural Crest Stem Cell Line

During vascular development, nascent endothelial networks are invested with a layer of supporting cells called pericytes in capillaries or smooth muscle in larger vessels. The cellular lineage of smooth muscle precursors and factors responsible for regulating their differentiation remain uncertain. In vivo, cells derived from the multipotent neural crest can give rise to vascular smooth muscle ...