Cardiac fibrosis is one of the pathological characteristics of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DbCM). Matrine treatment has proven to be effective in cases of organ fibrosis and cardiovascular diseases. In the present study, the anti-fibrosis-associated cardioprotective effects of matrine on DbCM were investigated. Rats with experimental DbCM were administered matrine orally. Cardiac functions were ev...

Overexpression of the inhibitory Smad, Smad7, is used frequently to implicate the Smad pathway in cellular responses to transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) signaling; however, Smad7 regulates several other proteins, including Cdc42, p38MAPK, and beta-catenin. We report an alternative approach for more specifically disrupting Smad-dependent signaling using a peptide aptamer, Trx-SARA, whi...

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGFbeta) signalling is an important regulator of cellular growth and differentiation. The principal intracellular mediators of TGFbeta signalling are the Smad proteins, which upon TGFbeta stimulation accumulate in the nucleus and regulate the transcription of target genes. To investigate the mechanisms of Smad nuclear accumulation, we developed a simple mathemat...

OBJECTIVE To prove whether the SMAD signal transduction pathway in human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMCs) influenced the process of human peritoneal fibrosis stimulated by TGF-β1. METHODS HPMCs were isolated from normal human omentum and the third generation cells were stimulated by 5 ng/ml TGF-β1. Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, ELISA and RT-PCR were employed to investigate the p...

Because interferon (IFN)may attenuate pulmonary fibrosis, we hypothesized that IFNmay regulate transforming growth factor (TGF)production by airway epithelial cells. Human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) were incubated with IFNTGF1, 3, or interleukin (IL)-1 , platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), epidermal growth factor, and IL-4. TGF2 protein was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent ass...

Mangiferin is a natural immunomodulator found in plants including mango trees. The effects of mangiferin on chondrogenesis and cartilage repair have not yet been reported. This study was designed to determine the effect of mangiferin on chondrogenic differentiation in IL-1β-stimulated mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from subchondral bone and to explore the mechanisms underlying these effects. MSC...

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is an important regulator of cellular homeostasis and disease pathogenesis. Canonical TGF-β signaling occurs through Smad2/3-Smad4 complexes; however, recent in vitro studies suggest that elevated levels of TGF-β may activate a novel mixed Smad complex (Smad2/3-Smad1/5/9), which is required for some of the pro-oncogenic activities of TGF-β. To determine if m...

In many renal diseases, transforming growth factor β (TGFβ)-stimulated canonical Smad 3 and noncanonical mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) promote increased protein synthesis and mesangial cell hypertrophy. The cellular underpinnings involving these signaling molecules to regulate mesangial cell hypertrophy are not fully understood. Deptor has recently been identified as an mTOR interactin...

Abstract Background and Aims Inflammatory Interstitial fibrosis tubular atrophy (i-IF/TA) is a prominent histological lesion reported in late biopsy poorly associated with graft survival. Cytotoxic T cell secrets Granzyme-B, which cleaves cytoskeleton protein, activates pro-IL-1β, TGF-β into their active form, leading to inflammation, fibrosis, the apoptosis target cell. The association of Gran...