BACKGROUND Transforming growth factor-beta is a regulatory protein that plays a key role in inflammatory, fibrotic, and immunological events in the intestinal mucosa. Recently, attention has been focused on the role of transforming growth factor-beta in the etiopathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. Enhanced expression of transforming growth factor-beta mRNA in the lamina propria and a dis...

We studied the effects of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) density on tumor growth dynamics, both on the sub- and the multi-cellular level using our previously developed model. This algorithm simulates the growth of a brain tumor using a multi-scale two-dimensional agent-based approach with an integrated transforming growth factor alpha (TGFalpha) induced EGFR-gene-protein interaction ne...

Each of the effector CD4 T-cell lineages - Th1, Th2, and the more recently identified Th17 - arises from pluripotent naïve precursors whose developmental fate is largely controlled by cytokines that act in concert with antigenic signals. Remarkably, development of the Th17 lineage has been linked to that of regulatory T cells, which obviate or downregulate Th17 responses to preserve immune home...

Connective-tissue growth factor (CTGF) is a secreted protein implicated in multiple cellular events including angiogenesis, skeletogenesis and wound healing. It is a member of the CCN family of secreted proteins, named after CTGF, cysteine-rich 61 (CYR61), and nephroblastoma overexpressed (NOV) proteins. The molecular mechanism by which CTGF or other CCN proteins regulate cell signalling is not...

OBJECTIVES The biological functions of transforming growth factor-β signaling that involves Smad proteins have not been previously investigated with respect to coronary artery bypass grafts. The aim of the present study was to observe the immunostaining of proteins that are related to this signaling pathway. METHODS Fifteen remnants of coronary artery bypass grafts, including nine saphenous v...

The same enzyme is responsible for the activation of transforming growth factor-beta-like signalling molecules and the processing of fibrillar procollagens. This finding implicates a metalloendoprotease in the control of cell behavior and matrix assembly during morphogenesis.

Overproduction of transforming growth factor-beta clearly underlies tissue fibrosis in numerous experimental and human diseases. Transforming growth factor-beta's powerful fibrogenic action results from simultaneous stimulation of matrix protein synthesis, inhibition of matrix degradation, and enhanced integrin expression that facilitates matrix assembly. In animals, overexpression of transform...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the gene expression of growth factors and growth factor receptors of primary hepatic masses, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and nodular hyperplasia (NH), in dogs. Quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was performed to measure the expression of 18 genes in 18 HCCs, 10 NHs, 11 surrounding non-cancerous liver tiss...