title: Smad7 inhibits fibrotic effect of TGF-Beta on renal tubular epithelial cells by blocking Smad2 activation.
abstract: It has been shown that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is a potent mediator in renal fibrosis and that Smad proteins are critical intracellular mediators in TGF-beta signaling. It is here reported that TGF-beta mediates renal fibrogenesis in tubular epithelial cells (TEC) in association with the activation of Smad2 and that overexpression of Smad7 blocks this fibrotic process. Using a normal rat kidney tubular epithelial cell line (NRK52E), it was determined that TGF-beta1 induces Smad2 phosphorylation and nuclear localization in both a dose- and time-dependent manner. The activation of Smad2 was evident at 5 min (20%), peaked at 15 to 30 min (85%), and declined to baseline levels by 2 h (5 to 10%). This was associated with de novo expression of collagens I, III, and IV and the transformation of TEC into a "myofibroblast" phenotype with de novo expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and with the loss of E-cadherin (>50%). To investigate a negative regulatory role of Smad7 in renal fibrosis, the Smad 7 gene was stably transfected and its expression was tightly controlled by doxycycline into NRK52E cells. Overexpression of Smad7 induced by doxycycline results in marked inhibition of TGF-beta-induced Smad2 activation (90% downward arrow) with the prevention of collagen synthesis and myofibroblast transformation. Thus, Smad2 activation occurs in the fibrogenic response of TEC to TGF-beta, and this process is blocked by overexpression of Smad7. This indicates that Smad signaling is a key pathway of TGF-beta-mediated renal fibrosis and suggests that treatments targeting the inactivation of Smad2 by overexpression of Smad7 may provide a new therapeutic strategy for renal fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Jin H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hong-Jian
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xiao R
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Kar N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Hui Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Lan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000502:physiology*; D004318:Doxycycline / Q000494:pharmacology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000473:pathology; D005355:Fibrosis; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000473:pathology*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D051381:Rats; D051899:Smad2 Protein; D051906:Smad7 Protein; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000502:physiology*; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D051899:Smad2 Protein; C497784:Smad2 protein, rat; D051906:Smad7 Protein; C497808:Smad7 protein, rat; D015534:Trans-Activators; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D004318:Doxycycline