Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE
Volume 38, Issue 2, Pages 391-398Publisher
SPANDIDOS PUBL LTD
DOI: 10.3892/ijmm.2016.2631
Keywords
connective tissue growth factor; transforming growth factor-1; mitogen-activated protein kinases; ligamentum flavum; lumbar spinal stenosis
Categories
Funding
- Guangdong Science and Technology plan project [2011B080701018]
- Guangdong Medical Science and Technology Research Fund [A2012372]
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Hypertrophy of the ligamentum flavum (LF) is one of the key pathomechanisms of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Transforming growth factor (TGF)-1 is abundantly expressed in hypertrophied degenerative LF tissues from LSS. However, the molecular mechanisms underling the association between TGF-1 and LF hypertrophy have not yet been fully elucidated. In this study, we investigated the important role of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in the pathogenesis of LSS by analyzing the expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and extracellular matrix (ECM) components (collagen I and collagen III) in TGF-1-treated LF cells. Cell growth assay revealed that TGF-1, in association with CTGF, enhanced the the proliferation of LF cells, and we found that TGF-1 also elevated CTGF expression and subsequently enhanced the mRNA expression of collagen I and collagen III. The increased mRNA expression levels of CTGF, collagen I and collagen III were abolished by p38 inhibitors. Both immunofluorescence imaging and western blot analysis of p38 and p-p38 revealed the increased expression and phosphorylation of p38. Silencing the expression of p38 by siRNA in LF cells decreased the protein expression of p38, p-p38 and CTGF, as well as the mRNA expression of CTGF, collagen I and collagen III. Taken together, our findings indicate that TGF-1, in association with the increased expression of CTGF, contribute to the homeostasis of the ECM and to the hypertrophy of LF through the p38 MAPK pathway.
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