title: Measuring TGF-β Ligand Dynamics in Culture Medium.
abstract: TGF-β plays an important role in a myriad of cell activities including differentiation, proliferation, and growth arrest. These effects are influenced by the concentration of TGF-β in the surrounding milieu, which is interpreted by mammalian cells and subsequently translated into meaningful signals that guide their proliferation, survival, or death. To predict cellular responses to TGF-ß signaling based on molecular mechanisms, it is important to consider how cells respond to different ligand doses and how variations in ligand exposure impact Smad signaling dynamics and subsequent gene expression. Here we describe methods to measure TGF-β concentration in the environment and approaches to perturb cellular TGF-β exposure to gain a quantitative understanding of signaling dynamics of this pathway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA.|Otto-Warburg Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, 14195, Germany.
authors.forename: Zipei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Otto-Warburg Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, 14195, Germany.
authors.forename: Zhike
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA. xuedong.Liu@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Xuedong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002460:Cell Line; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D008024:Ligands; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta
keywords: SMAD; Signaling; Switch-like response; TGF-β