title: Matrix elasticity, cytoskeletal tension, and TGF-beta: the insoluble and soluble meet.
abstract: Soluble growth factors are potent regulators of normal and pathological processes. Mechanical factors are emerging as similarly important, but there has been no obvious mechanism linking the different factors. A recent report now demonstrates that cell-generated mechanical tension results in release of active transforming growth factor-beta from stiff extracellular matrix, providing a mechanism for differentiation and maintenance of myofibroblasts in processes like fibrosis. More broadly, the work suggests that matrix stiffness could regulate the equilibrium between storage and release of a host of matrix-bound growth factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.forename: Dennis E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Discher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology*; D004548:Elasticity; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000502:physiology*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000502:physiology; D012995:Solubility; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta