Transforming growth factors (TGF) are potent multifunctional polypeptides that are involved in renal function and glomerular sclerosis. We postulated that dietary salt modified renal production of TGF-β. An increase in dietary salt produced sustained increases in steady-state levels of mRNA for TGF-β1, -β2, and -β3 in the rat kidney. While serum concentration of TGF-β1 did not change, the 8.0% ...

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) offer promise in regenerative medicine, however more data are required to improve understanding of key aspects of the cell differentiation process, including how specific chondrogenic processes affect the gene expression profile of chondrocyte‑like cells and the relative value of cell differentiation markers. The main aims of the present study were ...

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a critical role in cancer metastasis, and is regulated by growth factors such as transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and fibroblast growth factors (FGF) secreted from the stromal and tumor cells. However, the role of growth factors in EMT has not been fully established. Several integrins are upregulated by TGF-β1 during EMT. Integrins are involv...

Growing evidence suggests that cardiac nonmyocyte cells may play an important regulatory role in the response to myocardial overload and injury via altered expression of paracrine products, such as cytokines and growth factors, but information concerning the cell-specific changes in the expression of these substances in heart-failure models is limited. Therefore, cardiac nonmyocytes were isolat...

Many researchers world over are currently investigating the suitability of stromal cells harvested from foetal tissues for allogeneic cell transplantation therapies or for tissue engineering purposes. In this study, we have investigated the chondrogenic potential of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) isolated from whole sections of human umbilical cord or mixed cord (UCSCs-MC), and compared them ...

Transforming growth factor betas (TGF-βs) belong to three isoforms (TGF-β1, TGF-β2 and TGF-β3) members of a large pleiotropic superfamily of around 100 distinct proteins participating in the regulation of key events of development and disease, and tissue repair. In the central nervous system (CNS), all the three isoforms are produced by both glial and neuronal cells and are involved in essentia...