Fibroblast growth factors (Fgfs) are pleiotropic proteins involved in development, repair and metabolism. Fgf16 is predominantly expressed in the heart. However, as the heart function is essentially normal in Fgf16 knockout mice, its role has remained unclear. To elucidate the pathophysiological role of Fgf16 in the heart, we examined angiotensin II-induced cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in F...

Chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II (COUP-TFII) is an orphan nuclear receptor that regulates many key biological processes, including organ development and cell fate determination. Although the biological functions of COUP-TFII have been studied extensively, little is known about what regulates its gene expression, especially the role of inducible extracellular factors i...

There is no effective treatment for spinal cord injury and clinical drug delivery techniques are limited by the blood-spinal cord barrier. Our lab has developed an injectable drug delivery system consisting of a biopolymer blend of hyaluronan and methylcellulose (HAMC) that can sustain drug release for up to 24h in the intrathecal space. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) has great potential for...

Despite widespread expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptors (EGFRs) and EGF family ligands in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), EGFR-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as gefitinib exhibit limited activity in this cancer. We propose that autocrine growth signaling pathways distinct from EGFR are active in NSCLC cells. To this end, gene expression profiling revealed f...

Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2)-mediated signaling plays an important role in fiber cell differentiation in eye lens. We had previously shown that kynurenine (KYN) produced from the overexpression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) causes defects in the differentiation of fiber cells, induces fiber cell apoptosis and cataract formation in the mouse lens, and leads to cell cycle arrest in cu...

Lens regeneration in newts occurs exclusively from the dorsal aspect of the iris pigment epithelium. Although the phenomenon has been a paradigm of experimental tissue regeneration, little is understood about how it is initiated and restricted to the dorsal iris. Here we show among various growth factors injected in an intact eye, a single injection of FGF2 specifically caused morphological cha...

We recently developed novel bioluminescent binding assays for several protein/peptide hormones to study their interactions with receptors using the so far brightest NanoLuc reporter. To validate the novel bioluminescent binding assay using a variety of protein/peptide hormones, in the present work we applied it to the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family using the prototype member FGF2 as an e...

Leukemia inhibitory factor and bone morphogenetic protein signaling pathways play important roles in maintaining the self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). In contrast, the supplementation of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) in culture promotes mouse ESC differentiation. It has been proposed that factors that are adverse for maintaining the self-renewal of ESCs might play detriment...

New experimental evidence suggests that the mechanism of action of antidepressants includes the induction of neurotrophic factor synthesis in selected brain areas. The present study is aimed at establishing whether prolonged antidepressant treatments increase the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2), a polypeptide growth factor that has a broad neurotrophic activity in the adult ...