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Figure 2 | Fibrogenesis & Tissue Repair

Figure 2

From: Common threads in cardiac fibrosis, infarct scar formation, and wound healing

Figure 2

Mechanism of collagen gene regulation by scleraxis. Scleraxis expression is increased in response to transforming growth factor (TGF)-β via the canonical Smad signaling pathway [73, 75]. Collagen synthesis is upregulated by scleraxis and/or by Smads (for example, Smad3), either independently or synergistically via direct interaction with the collagen gene promoter [75]. It is unclear whether other mechanisms may upregulate scleraxis expression independently of TGF-β (dashed line). These mechanisms may act as a regulatory ‘cassette’, governing cardiac infarct scar formation [73], cardiac fibrosis (and potentially fibrosis in other tissues as well) [73, 75], tendon formation [72, 77], and possibly keloid formation [78] and wound healing [79]. Therapeutic attenuation of scleraxis expression or activity may provide a means to alter one or more of these processes.

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