Fibulin-6 regulates pro-fibrotic TGF-β responses in neonatal mouse ventricular cardiac fibroblasts

Fibulin-6, an essential component of extracellular matrix determines the architecture of cellular junctions in tissues undergoing strain. Increased expression and deposition of fibulin-6 facilitates fibroblast migration in response to TGF-β, following myocardial infarction in mouse heart. The underlying mechanism still remains elusive. In conjunction with our previous study, we have now demonstrated that in fibulin-6 knockdown (KD) fibroblasts, not only TGF-β dependent migration, but also stress fiber formation, cellular networking and subsequently fibroblast wound contraction is almost abrogated. SMAD dependent TGF-β pathway shows ~75% decreased translocation of R-SMAD and co-SMAD into the nucleus upon fibulin-6 KD. Consequently, SMAD dependent pro-fibrotic gene expression is considerably down regulated to basal levels both in mRNA and protein. Also, investigating the non-SMAD pathways we observed a constitutive increase in pERK-levels in fibulin-6 KD fibroblast compared to control, but no change was seen in pAKT. Immunoprecipitation studies revealed 60% reduced interaction of TGF-β receptor II and I (TGFRII and I) accompanied by diminished phosphorylation of TGFRI at serin165 in fibulin-6 KD cells. In conclusion, fibulin-6 plays an important role in regulating TGF-β mediated responses, by modulating TGF-β receptor dimerization and activation to further trigger downstream pathways.