Because of the importance of neural recognition molecules expressed by glial cells to mediate interactions with neurons, growth factors and cytokines known to be functional during morphogenesis and in diseases of the nervous system were studied for their effects on recognition molecule expression by cultured immature and mature astrocytes from several brain regions. In cultures of immature astr...

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) activity is controlled at many levels including the conversion of the latent secreted form to its active state. TGF-beta is often released as part of an inactive tripartite complex consisting of TGF-beta, the TGF-beta propeptide, and a molecule of latent TGF-beta binding protein (LTBP). The interaction of TGF-beta and its cleaved propeptide renders the...

The presence of active transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) in serum has not been widely accepted. In particular, although at least five studies have concluded that active TGF-beta is present in normal human plasma and serum, assays that use the extracellular domain of the TGF-beta type II receptor as a capture agent have given contradictory results. We show that there is an antagonist pr...

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta and connective tissue growth factor may be implicated in extracellular matrix protein deposition in asthma. We have recently reported that TGF-beta increased connective tissue growth factor expression in airway smooth muscle cells isolated from patients with asthma. In this study, we examined fibronectin and collagen production and signal transduction pathw...

Several observations correlate increased expression of transforming growth factor (TGF) beta 1 with tumorigenesis, suggesting that expression of this multifunctional growth factor may provide an advantage in tumor formation. However, many tumor cells are inhibited in their proliferation by TGF-beta in vitro, thus suggesting that TGF-beta synthesis could exert an antiproliferative effect on tumo...

We have previously shown that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) increases type VII collagen gene (COL7A1) expression in human dermal fibroblasts in culture (Mauviel, A., Lapière, J.-C., Halcin, C., Evans, C. H., and Uitto, J. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 25-28). To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying the up-regulation of COL7A1 by this growth factor, we performed transi...

In the mammalian brain, the specification of a single axon and multiple dendrites occurs early in the differentiation of most neuron types. Numerous intracellular signaling events for axon specification have been described in detail. However, the identity of the extracellular factor(s) that initiate neuronal polarity in vivo is unknown. Here, we report that transforming growth factor beta (TGF-...

BACKGROUND Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) inhibits cell proliferation. This may be mediated by transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). TGF-beta directly stops cell proliferation, restrains cells in G(0), and inhibits the uptake of platelet-derived growth factor and insulin-like growth factor. These effects are identical to those observed with ASA treatment. METHODS AND RESULTS We cultured rat...

BACKGROUND Dupuytren's Disease (DD) is a debilitating contractile fibrosis of the palmar fascia characterised by excess collagen deposition, contractile myofibroblast development, increased transforming growth factor-beta levels and beta-catenin accumulation. The aim of this study was to determine if a collagen-enriched environment, similar to in vivo conditions, altered beta-catenin accumulati...

We have investigated the ability of tamoxifen to regulate members of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) family in human breast cancers in vivo. Using immunohistochemical techniques, we find that 3 months of tamoxifen treatment causes a consistent induction of extracellular TGF-beta 1 in breast cancer biopsies, compared with matched pretreatment samples from the same patient. The ind...