Journal:

Article Title: The immunomodulator FTY720 and its phosphorylated derivative activate the Smad signalling cascade and upregulate connective tissue growth factor and collagen type IV expression in renal mesangial cells

doi: 10.1038/sj.bjp.0706452

Figure Lengend Snippet: Effect of a TGF-βR type I kinase inhibitor on FTY720-, phospho-FTY- and TGF-β-stimulated CTGF expression in mesangial cells. Cells were pretreated for 30 min with either vehicle (−) or the indicated concentrations (in μM) of the TGF-βRI inhibitor prior to stimulation with either FTY720 (FTY; 3 μM), phospho-FTY720 (p-FTY; 3 μM) or TGF-β2 (20 ng ml−1) for 4 h. Thereafter, cell lysates were subjected to Western blot analysis using antibodies against CTGF or GAPDH at dilutions of 1 : 1000. Bands corresponding to CTGF were densitometrically evaluated. Results are means±s.d. (n=3), *P<0.05, **P<0.01, considered statistically significant when compared to the stimulated values in the absence of the inhibitor.

Article Snippet: FTY720, phospho-FTY720 and TGF- β 2 were kindly donated by Novartis Pharma Ltd, Basel, Switzerland; phospho-specific antibodies against p42/p44-MAPK, JNK, p38-MAPK, phospho-Smad-1(Ser 463/465 ) and phospho-Smad-2(Ser 465/467 ) and total Smad-2 were from Cell signalling, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; the TGF- β RI kinase inhibitor and the total polyclonal anti-human Smad-1 antibody (directed against amino-acid residues 147–258 of human Smad-1) were from Merck Biosciences, Schwalbach, Germany; the total Smad-3 antibody (FL-425) and the collagen type IV (H-234) antibody were from Santa Cruz, Heidelberg, Germany; the neutralizing pan-specific TGF- β antibody and the TGF- β ELISA were from Biosource Deutschland GmbH, Solingen, Germany; [ 35 S]methionine/cysteine pro-mixture (specific activity >1000 Ci mmol −1 ), [ α - 32 P]dCTP (specific activity 3000 Ci mmol −1 ), protein A sepharose 4B, anti-rabbit and anti-mouse horseradish peroxidase-linked IgGs and Hyperfilm were purchased from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech Europe GmbH, Freiburg, Germany; all cell culture nutrients were from Gibco, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Techniques: Expressing, Western Blot

Journal:

Article Title: Targeting the Transforming Growth Factor-? Signaling Pathway in Human Cancer

doi: 10.1517/13543780903382609

Figure Lengend Snippet: Development of TGF-β signaling pathway inhibitors and their current status.

Article Snippet: 2G7 , Pan TGF-β , Phase III , Genentech , ( 80 ).

Techniques: Recombinant