TGF-β downstream of Smad3 and MAPK signaling antagonistically regulate the viability and partial epithelial-mesenchymal transition of liver progenitor cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Liver progenitor cells (LPCs) are a subpopulation of cells that contribute to liver regeneration, fibrosis and liver cancer initiation under different circumstances.

Results

By performing adenoviral-mediated transfection, CCK-8 analyses, F-actin staining, transwell analyses, luciferase reporter analyses and Western blotting, we observed that TGF-β promoted cytostasis and partial epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in LPCs. In addition, we confirmed that TGF-β activated the Smad and MAPK pathways, including the Erk, JNK and p38 MAPK signaling pathways, and revealed that TGFβ-Smad signaling induced growth inhibition and partial EMT, whereas TGFβ-MAPK signaling had the opposite effects on LPCs. We further found that the activity of Smad and MAPK signaling downstr

SUBMITTER: Sun YM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11042936 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature