Featured Article: TGF-β1 dominates extracellular matrix rigidity for inducing differentiation of human cardiac fibroblasts to myofibroblasts.

ABSTRACT: Cardiac fibroblasts and their activated derivatives, myofibroblasts, play a critical role in wound healing after myocardial injury and often contribute to long-term pathological outcomes, such as excessive fibrosis. Thus, defining the microenvironmental factors that regulate the phenotype of cardiac fibroblasts and myofibroblasts could lead to new therapeutic strategies. Both chemical and biomechanical cues have previously been shown to induce myofibroblast differentiation in many organs and species. For example, transforming growth factor beta 1, a cytokine secreted by neutrophils, and rigid extracellular matrix environments have both been shown to promote differentiation. However, the relative contributions of transforming growth factor beta 1 and extracellular matrix rigidity, two hallm

SUBMITTER: Cho N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6582399 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature