Articles

Matrix and cell phenotype differences in Dupuytren’s disease

Dupuytren’s disease is a fibroproliferative disease of the hand and fingers, which usually manifests as two different phenotypes within the same patient. The disease first causes a nodule in the palm of the ha...

Authors: Marike M. van Beuge, Evert-Jan P. M. ten Dam, Paul M. N. Werker and Ruud A. Bank

Activation of hepatic stellate cell in Pten null liver injury model

Hepatic fibrosis is a prominent pathological feature associated with chronic liver disease including non-alcoholic hepatosteatosis (NASH), and a precursor for liver cancer development. We previously reported t...

Authors: Lina He, James Gubbins, Zhechu Peng, Vivian Medina, Fan Fei, Kinji Asahina, Jiaohong Wang, Michael Kahn, Carl B. Rountree and Bangyan L. Stiles

Protective role for miR-9-5p in the fibrogenic transformation of human dermal fibroblasts

Excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins is the hallmark of fibrotic diseases, including skin fibrosis. This response relies on the activation of dermal fibroblasts that evolve into a pro-...

Authors: Verónica Miguel, Oscar Busnadiego, Marta Fierro-Fernández and Santiago Lamas

Age-dependent development of liver fibrosis in Glmp ^gt/gt mice

Mice lacking glycosylated lysosomal membrane protein (Glmp ^gt/gt mice) have liver fibrosis as the predominant phenotype due to chronic liver inju...

Authors: Cecilie K. Nesset, Xiang Yi Kong, Markus Damme, Camilla Schjalm, Norbert Roos, Else Marit Løberg and Winnie Eskild

Active transforming growth factor-β is associated with phenotypic changes in granulomas after drug treatment in pulmonary tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) chemotherapy clears bacterial burden in the lungs of patients and allows the tuberculous lesions to heal through a fibrotic process. The healing process leaves pulmonary scar tissue that can ...

Authors: Robert M. DiFazio, Joshua T. Mattila, Edwin C. Klein, Lauren R. Cirrincione, Mondraya Howard, Eileen A. Wong and JoAnne L. Flynn

Differential effects of hyaluronan synthase 3 deficiency after acute vs chronic liver injury in mice

Hyaluronan (HA) is a ubiquitous extracellular matrix (ECM) glycosaminoglycan synthesized by three different enzymes, hyaluronan synthase (HAS)1, 2, and 3. HA synthesis mediated by HAS3 promotes inflammation an...

Authors: Jennifer M. McCracken, Lu Jiang, Krutika T. Deshpande, Maura F. O’Neil and Michele T. Pritchard

Biomaterials for hollow organ tissue engineering

Tissue engineering is a rapidly advancing field that is likely to transform how medicine is practised in the near future. For hollow organs such as those found in the cardiovascular and respiratory systems or ...

Authors: Eseelle K. Hendow, Pauline Guhmann, Bernice Wright, Panagiotis Sofokleous, Nina Parmar and Richard M. Day

Transcriptomic analysis of the effects of Toll-like receptor 4 and its ligands on the gene expression network of hepatic stellate cells

Intact Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) has been identified in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), the primary fibrogenic cell type in liver. Here, we investigated the impact of TLR4 signaling on the gene expression net...

Authors: Yangyang Ouyang, Jinsheng Guo, Chenzhao Lin, Jie Lin, Yirong Cao, Yuanqin Zhang, Yujin Wu, Shiyao Chen, Jiyao Wang, Luonan Chen and Scott L. Friedman

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 and kidney fibrosis in diabetes

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the most common cause of end-stage kidney disease worldwide and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Recent eviden...

Authors: Sen Shi, Daisuke Koya and Keizo Kanasaki

Thromboxane promotes smooth muscle phenotype commitment but not remodeling of hypoxic neonatal pulmonary artery

Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is characterized by vasoconstriction and pulmonary vascular remodeling. Remodeling is believed to be a response to physical or chemical stimuli including...

Authors: Fabiana Postolow, Jena Fediuk, Nora Nolette, Martha Hinton and Shyamala Dakshinamurti

Deletion of Wntless in myeloid cells exacerbates liver fibrosis and the ductular reaction in chronic liver injury

Macrophages play critical roles in liver regeneration, fibrosis development and resolution. They are among the first responders to liver injury and are implicated in orchestrating the fibrogenic response via m...

Authors: Katharine M. Irvine, Andrew D. Clouston, Victoria L. Gadd, Gregory C. Miller, Weng-Yew Wong, Michelle Melino, Muralidhara Rao Maradana, Kelli MacDonald, Richard A. Lang, Matthew J. Sweet, Antje Blumenthal and Elizabeth E. Powell

Epigenetics and the overhealing wound: the role of DNA methylation in fibrosis

Fibrosis is a progressive and potentially fatal process that can occur in numerous organ systems. Characterised by the excessive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins such as collagens and fibronectin, f...

Authors: Roisin Neary, Chris J. Watson and John A. Baugh

L⁵⁹ TGF-β LAP degradation products serve as a promising blood biomarker for liver fibrogenesis in mice

Hepatic fibrosis, which is the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrices (ECMs) produced mainly from activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), develops to cirrhosis over several decades. There are no val...

Authors: Mitsuko Hara, Ikuyo Inoue, Yuta Yamazaki, Akiko Kirita, Tomokazu Matsuura, Scott L. Friedman, Daniel B. Rifkin and Soichi Kojima

Precision renal medicine: a roadmap towards targeted kidney fibrosis therapies

Based on extensive pre-clinical achievements over the past decades, it appears to be due time for a successful clinical translation in the renal fibrosis field—but what is the quickest road to get there? In li...

Authors: Michael Zeisberg and Elisabeth M. Zeisberg

Cytoglobin expression in the hepatic stellate cell line HSC-T6 is regulated by extracellular matrix proteins dependent on FAK-signalling

Fibrosis is a physiological response to cellular injury in the liver and is mediated by the activation of hepatic stellate cells resulting in the replacement of hepatocytes with extracellular matrix comprised ...

Authors: Louise Catherine Stone, Lorna Susan Thorne, Christopher John Weston, Mark Graham and Nikolas John Hodges

In vitro reversion of activated primary human hepatic stellate cells

Liver fibrosis is characterized by the excessive formation and accumulation of matrix proteins as a result of wound healing in the liver. A main event during fibrogenesis is the activation of the liver residen...

Authors: Adil El Taghdouini, Mustapha Najimi, Pau Sancho-Bru, Etienne Sokal and Leo A. van Grunsven

Association of circulating angiogenesis inhibitors and asymmetric dimethyl arginine with coronary plaque burden

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an independent risk factor for the development and severity of coronary artery disease (CHD) and endothelial dysfunction. There is an increase in the circulating angiogenesis in...

Authors: David M. Charytan, Angeles Cinelli and Elisabeth M. Zeisberg

Novel approach for the detection of tubular cell migration into the interstitium during renal fibrosis in rats

The process of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which is generally defined by phenotypic changes of injured tubules such as loss of epithelial markers or acquisition of mesenchymal markers, implies var...

Authors: Masao Nakasatomi, Akito Maeshima, Keiichiro Mishima, Hidekazu Ikeuchi, Toru Sakairi, Yoriaki Kaneko, Keiju Hiromura and Yoshihisa Nojima

Enhanced chemokine-receptor expression, function, and signaling in healthy African American and scleroderma-patient monocytes are regulated by caveolin-1

A major health disparity suffered by African Americans (AA) is a predisposition toward fibrotic diseases of the skin, lung, and other organs. We previously showed that healthy AA and scleroderma (systemic scle...

Authors: Rebecca Lee, Charles Reese, Beth Perry, Jonathan Heywood, Michael Bonner, Marina Zemskova, Richard M. Silver, Stanley Hoffman and Elena Tourkina

Pentoxifylline immunomodulation in the treatment of experimental chronic pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis

Pentoxifylline (PTX) is a methylxanthine compound with immunomodulatory and antifibrotic properties. The simultaneous use of PTX and antifungal therapy (itraconazole) has previously been evaluated in an experi...

Authors: Damaris Elena Lopera, Tonny Williams Naranjo, José Miguel Hidalgo, Laura Echeverri, Jairo Hernando Patiño, Ángela Restrepo Moreno, Henrique Leonel Lenzi and Luz Elena Cano

Prospects for clinical use of reprogrammed cells for autologous treatment of macular degeneration

Since the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) in 2006, the symptoms of many human diseases have been reversed in animal models with iPSC therapy, setting the stage for future clinical developmen...

Authors: Ana Belen Alvarez Palomo, Samuel McLenachan, Fred K Chen, Lyndon Da Cruz, Rodney J Dilley, Jordi Requena, Michaela Lucas, Andrew Lucas, Micha Drukker and Michael J Edel

Donor caveolin 1 (CAV1) genetic polymorphism influences graft function after renal transplantation

Identification of the culprit genes underlying multifactorial diseases is one of the most important current challenges of molecular genetics. While recent advances in genomics research have accelerated the dis...

Authors: Cynthia Van der Hauwaert, Grégoire Savary, Claire Pinçon, Viviane Gnemmi, Christian Noël, Franck Broly, Myriam Labalette, Michaël Perrais, Nicolas Pottier, François Glowacki and Christelle Cauffiez

Modulation of angiotensin II signaling in the prevention of fibrosis

Over the last decade, it has become clear that the role of angiotensin II extends far beyond recognized renal and cardiovascular effects. The presence of an autologous renin-angiotensin system has been demonst...

Authors: Amanda M Murphy, Alison L Wong and Michael Bezuhly

Primary cilia modulate balance of canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling responses in the injured kidney

While kidney injury is associated with re-expression of numerous Wnt ligands and receptors, molecular mechanisms which underlie regulation of distinct Wnt signaling pathways and ensuing biological consequences...

Authors: Shoji Saito, Björn Tampe, Gerhard A Müller and Michael Zeisberg

Human lung myofibroblast TGFβ1-dependent Smad2/3 signalling is Ca²⁺-dependent and regulated by K_Ca3.1 K⁺ channels

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a common and invariably lethal interstitial lung disease with poorly effective therapy. Blockade of the K⁺ channel K_Ca3.1 reduces constitutive α-SMA and Smad2/3 nuclear tran...

Authors: Katy M Roach, Carol Feghali-Bostwick, Heike Wulff, Yassine Amrani and Peter Bradding

Erratum to: Thrombospondin 1 is a key mediator of transforming growth factor b-mediated cell contractility in systemic sclerosis via a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-dependent mechanism

Authors: Yunliang Chen, Andrew Leask, David J Abraham, Laura Kennedy, Xu Shi-wen, Christopher P Denton, Carol M Black, Liaquat S Verjee and Mark Eastwood

Tissue is an issue in the search for biomarkers in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Biological markers, i.e., biomarkers, in lung tissue may make it possible to connect cell biological phenomena to the pathogenetic mechanisms in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). This review focuses on the ...

Authors: Riitta Kaarteenaho and Elisa Lappi-Blanco

Workshop on cardiovascular extracellular matrix in health and disease in Baeza, Spain

The Workshop on Cardiovascular Extracellular Matrix in Health and Disease, International University of Andalusia, Baeza, Spain, 6-8 October 2014 served to discuss the current knowledge on the mechanisms integr...

Authors: Enrique Lara-Pezzi, Elke Dworatzek and Fernando Rodríguez-Pascual

Developing an in vitro screening assay platform for evaluation of antifibrotic drugs using precision-cut liver slices

Precision-cut liver slices present different cell types of liver in a physiological context, and they have been explored as effective in vitro model systems to study liver fibrosis. Inducing fibrosis in the liver...

Authors: Satish Kumar Sadasivan, Nethra Siddaraju, Khaiser Mehdi Khan, Balamuralikrishna Vasamsetti, Nimisha R Kumar, Vibha Haridas, Madhusudhan B Reddy, Somesh Baggavalli, Anup M Oommen and Raghavendra Pralhada Rao

The role of complement in the pathogenesis of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury and fibrosis

The complement system is a major component of innate immunity and has been commonly identified as a central element in host defense, clearance of immune complexes, and tissue homeostasis. After ischemia-reperf...

Authors: Juan S Danobeitia, Arjang Djamali and Luis A Fernandez

Recent advances in renal interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy after kidney transplantation

Although kidney transplantation has been an important means for the treatment of patients with end stage of renal disease, the long-term survival rate of the renal allograft remains a challenge. The cause of l...

Authors: Xiaojun Li and Shougang Zhuang

Secreted frizzled related proteins inhibit fibrosis in vitro but appear redundant in vivo

The pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis remains poorly understood. The Wnt signaling pathway regulates fibrogenesis in different organs. Here, we studied the role of two extracellular Wnt antagonists, secreted ...

Authors: Ellen De Langhe, Carolina Aznar-Lopez, Vanessa De Vooght, Jeroen A Vanoirbeek, Frank P Luyten and Rik JU Lories

Impaired Cav-1 expression in SSc mesenchymal cells upregulates VEGF signaling: a link between vascular involvement and fibrosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is characterized by vascular alteration and fibrosis, the former probably leading to fibrosis via the ability of both endothelial cells and pericytes to differentiate toward myofibrobl...

Authors: Paola Cipriani, Paola Di Benedetto, Daria Capece, Francesca Zazzeroni, Vasiliki Liakouli, Piero Ruscitti, Ilenia Pantano, Onorina Berardicurti, Francesco Carubbi, Edoardo Alesse and Roberto Giacomelli

Lipid mediators in diabetic nephropathy

The implications of lipid lowering drugs in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy have been considered. At the same time, the clinical efficacy of lipid lowering drugs has resulted in improvement in the cardio...

Authors: Swayam Prakash Srivastava, Sen Shi, Daisuke Koya and Keizo Kanasaki

Highlights of Keystone symposium ‘Fibrosis: from bench to bedside’

This report is based on the ‘Fibrosis: from bench to bedside’ symposium from the Keystone Symposia meeting series, Keystone, Colorado, 23 to 28 March 2014. It was a fascinating symposium with high quality talk...

Authors: Judith Jeanette de Haan and Fatih Arslan

HDAC class I inhibitor, Mocetinostat, reverses cardiac fibrosis in heart failure and diminishes CD90+ cardiac myofibroblast activation

Interstitial fibrosis and fibrotic scar formation contribute to cardiac remodeling and loss of cardiac function in myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure. Recent studies showed that histone deacetylase (...

Authors: Hikmet F Nural-Guvener, Luidmila Zakharova, James Nimlos, Snjezana Popovic, Diego Mastroeni and Mohamed A Gaballa

Anaphylatoxin C5a modulates hepatic stellate cell migration

C5a and its cognate receptor, C5a receptor (C5aR), key elements of complement, are critical modulators of liver immunity and fibrosis. However, the molecular mechanism for the cross talk between complement and...

Authors: Dola Das, Mark A Barnes and Laura E Nagy

Lung epithelial stem cells and their niches: Fgf10 takes center stage

Throughout life adult animals crucially depend on stem cell populations to maintain and repair their tissues to ensure life-long organ function. Stem cells are characterized by their capacity to extensively se...

Authors: Thomas Volckaert and Stijn De Langhe

Deficient repair response of IPF fibroblasts in a co-culture model of epithelial injury and repair

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disorder marked by relentless fibrosis and damage of the lung architecture. A growing body of evidence now suggests that IPF progresses as a result of aberr...

Authors: Sony Prasad, Cory M Hogaboam and Gabor Jarai

Antibody therapy can enhance AngiotensinII-induced myocardial fibrosis

Myocardial fibrosis is a pathological process that is characterized by disrupted regulation of extracellular matrix proteins resulting in permanent scarring of the heart tissue and eventual diastolic heart fai...

Authors: Nicole L Rosin, Alison J Gareau, Devin Betsch, Alec Falkenham, Mryanda J Sopel, Timothy DG Lee and Jean-Francois Légaré

Medical therapy of stricturing Crohn’s disease: what the gut can learn from other organs - a systematic review

Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic remitting and relapsing disease. Fibrostenosing complications such as intestinal strictures, stenosis and ultimately obstruction are some of its most common long-term complica...

Authors: Dominik Bettenworth and Florian Rieder

The extracellular matrix in the kidney: a source of novel non-invasive biomarkers of kidney fibrosis?

Interstitial fibrosis is the common endpoint of end-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) leading to kidney failure. The clinical course of many renal diseases, and thereby of CKD, is highly variable. One of the ...

Authors: Federica Genovese, Alba A Manresa, Diana Julie Leeming, Morten Asser Karsdal and Peter Boor

The 23^rd Annual Meeting of the European Tissue Repair Society (ETRS) in Reims, France

The 23^rd Annual Meeting of the European Tissue Repair Society, Reims, France, October 23 to 25, 2013 focused on tissue repair and regenerative medicine covering topics such as stem cells, biomaterials, tissue eng...

Authors: Johannes W Von den Hoff, Magnus S Ågren, Bernard Coulomb, Sabine A Eming and Jean-Jacques Lataillade

The hepatic sinusoid 'classic and contemporary’: a report on the 17th international symposium on cells of the hepatic sinusoid (ISCHS)

The 17th ISCHS took place in Osaka, Japan, on 23 to 25 September 2013. This symposium focuses on an exchange of views on the structure and function of hepatic sinusoidal cells in addition to their roles in cli...

Authors: Norifumi Kawada

Tranilast administration reduces fibrosis and improves fatigue resistance in muscles of mdx dystrophic mice

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe and progressive muscle-wasting disorder caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene that result in the absence of the membrane-stabilising protein dystrophin. Dystr...

Authors: Kristy Swiderski, Michelle Todorov, Stefan M Gehrig, Timur Naim, Annabel Chee, David I Stapleton, René Koopman and Gordon S Lynch

Molecular constituents of the extracellular matrix in rat liver mounting a hepatic progenitor cell response for tissue repair

Tissue repair in the adult mammalian liver occurs in two distinct processes, referred to as the first and second tiers of defense. We undertook to characterize the changes in molecular constituents of the extr...

Authors: Peter Siig Vestentoft, Peter Jelnes, Jesper B Andersen, Thi Anh Thu Tran, Tenna Jørgensen, Morten Rasmussen, Jette Bornholdt, Lene Melsæther Grøvdal, Charlotte Harken Jensen, Lotte Katrine Vogel, Snorri S Thorgeirsson and Hanne Cathrine Bisgaard

Matrix regulation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: the role of enzymes

Repairing damaged tissues is an essential homeostatic mechanism that enables clearance of dead or damaged cells after injury, and the maintenance of tissue integrity. However, exaggeration of this process in t...

Authors: Deborah L Clarke, Alan M Carruthers, Tomas Mustelin and Lynne A Murray

Experimental liver fibrosis research: update on animal models, legal issues and translational aspects

Liver fibrosis is defined as excessive extracellular matrix deposition and is based on complex interactions between matrix-producing hepatic stellate cells and an abundance of liver-resident and infiltrating cell...

Authors: Christian Liedtke, Tom Luedde, Tilman Sauerbruch, David Scholten, Konrad Streetz, Frank Tacke, René Tolba, Christian Trautwein, Jonel Trebicka and Ralf Weiskirchen

The role of mouse strain differences in the susceptibility to fibrosis: a systematic review

In humans, a number of genetic factors have been linked to the development of fibrosis in a variety of different organs. Seeking a wider understanding of this observation in man is ethically important. There i...

Authors: Louise Walkin, Sarah E Herrick, Angela Summers, Paul E Brenchley, Catherine M Hoff, Ron Korstanje and Peter J Margetts

The fibrotic microenvironment as a heterogeneity facet of hepatocellular carcinoma

It has long been recognized that hepatocellular carcinoma heterogeneity arises from variation in the microenvironment or from genomic alteration. Only recently it has become clear that non-genetic alterations,...

Authors: Krista Rombouts and Vinicio Carloni