title: Expression and roles of CCN2 in dental epithelial cells.
abstract: Connective tissue growth factor (CCN2) regulates diverse cellular functions, including tooth development. In order to delineate the precise role of CCN2 in the epithelium during odontogenesis, we investigated how it is expressed and what roles it may have in primary cultures of epithelial cells derived from developing tooth germ of the bovine fetus. Ccn2 mRNA and protein were strongly expressed in the inner dental epithelium, which is consistent with the expression of transforming growth factor-β2 mRNA and proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) were also expressed in the inner dental epithelium, indicating that CCN2 functionally interacts with these factors in the epithelium. The stimulatory effects of FGF2 on cell proliferation and BMP4 on cell differentiation were additively up-regulated by CCN2 in a newly-established dental epithelium cell culture. Taken together, our data provide clear evidence that CCN2 is synthesized by inner dental epithelial cells, and appears to act as an autocrine factor, which regulates dental epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation in concert with growth factors.
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan shimotsu@md.okayama-u.ac.jp.
authors: Tsuyoshi
authors: T
authors: Shimo
authors: Division of Orthopedic Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
authors: Eiki
authors: E
authors: Koyama
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors: Naito
authors: N
authors: Kurio
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors: Kenichi
authors: K
authors: Matsumoto
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors: Tatsuo
authors: T
authors: Okui
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors: Soichiro
authors: S
authors: Ibaragi
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors: Norie
authors: N
authors: Yoshioka
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors: Akira
authors: A
authors: Sasaki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D002417:Cattle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D055513:Connective Tissue Growth Factor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009805:Odontogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D014070:Tooth / Q000166:cytology*; D014083:Tooth Germ / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D055513:Connective Tissue Growth Factor
keywords: CCN2; connective tissue growth factor; dental epithelial cell