Lievens and colleagues report an important finding that helps to elucidate the role of transforming growth factor b (TGFb)b in atherosclerotic plaque formation. TGFb is a widely expressed cytokine produced by smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, monocytes, macrophages, and T cells. Clinical studies suggest that TGFb is antiatherosclerotic, citing a negative correlation between plasma TGFb co...

The role of Smad4 in transforming growth factor B (TGFB)– mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion, and metastasis was investigated using isogenically matched pancreatic cancer cell lines that differed only in expression of Smad4. Cells expressing Smad4 showed an enhanced TGFBmediated EMT as determined by increased expression of vimentin and decreased expression of B-catenin a...

BACKGROUND: Successful blastocyst implantation requires the differentiation of human endometrial stromal cells (HESC), a process known as decidualization. Activin A, a transforming growth factor b (TGFb) superfamily member, enhances HESC decidualization and localizes to decidual cells in human endometrium. Other TGFb superfamily members, including BMP2, BMP4, BMP7, GDF5, GDF8, GDF11, TGFbs and ...

Transforming growth factor B (TGFB) plays a key role in maintaining tissue homeostasis by inducing cell cycle arrest, differentiation and apoptosis, and ensuring genomic integrity. Furthermore, TGFB orchestrates the response to tissue injury and mediates repair by inducing epithelial to mesenchymal transition and by stimulating cell motility and invasiveness. Although loss of the homeostatic ac...

Activation-induced cell death (AICD) is a process that regulates the size and the duration of the primary immune T cell response. In this report, we investigated the mechanisms involved in the regulation of AICD by transforming growth factor b 1 (TGFb 1). We found that TGFb 1 decreased apoptosis of human T cells or T cell hybridomas after activation by anti-CD3. This decrease was associated wit...

We have examined whether the development of embryonic muscle fiber type is regulated by competing influences between Hedgehog and TGFb signals, as previously shown for development of neuronal cell identity in the neural tube. We found that ectopic expression of Hedgehogs or inhibition of protein kinase A in zebrafish embryos induces slow muscle precursors throughout the somite but muscle pionee...