title: Comparable response of ccn1 with ccn2 genes upon arthritis: An in vitro evaluation with a human chondrocytic cell line stimulated by a set of cytokines.
abstract: BACKGROUND: The chondrosarcoma-derived HCS-2/8 has been known to be an excellent model of human articular chondrocytes. By mimicking the arthritic conditions through the treatment of HCS-2/8 cells with cytokines, we estimated the gene expression response of ccn1 and ccn2 during the course of joint inflammation in vitro. RESULTS: In order to mimic the initiation of inflammation, HCS-2/8 cells were treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. To induce pro-inflammatory or reparative responses, TGF-beta was employed. Effects of an anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid were also evaluated. After stimulation, expression levels of ccn1 and ccn2 were quantitatively analyzed. Surprisingly, not only ccn2, but also ccn1 expression was repressed upon TNF-alpha stimulation, whereas both mRNAs were uniformly induced by transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta and a glucocorticoid. CONCLUSION: These results describing the same response during the course of inflammation suggest similar and co-operative roles of these 2 ccn family members in the course of arthritis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Dentistry, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama 700-8525, Japan. takigawa@md.okayama-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Norifumi H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Moritani
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugahara
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takigawa