Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0034069 (pulmonary fibrosis)
 7,050 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

TGF-Beta plays an important role in the genesis and progression of pulmonary fibrosis. We sought to determine the role of mononuclear phagocytes in the activation of TGF-beta and found that freshly isolated peripheral blood monocytes spontaneously released TGF-beta. Stimulating these monocytes with GM-CSF or LPS, but not MCSF, augmented the activation of TGF-beta. In human monocytes, the free thiol compounds DTT and NAC decreased the activity of TGF-beta, without affecting TGF-beta mRNA transcription. Both NAC and DTT lessened the biological activity of recombinant active TGF-beta in a cell-free system. We found that NAC and DTT reduced dimeric active TGF-beta from a 25 kDa protein to 12.5 kDa inactive monomer. This conversion was reversed using the oxidizing agent diamide. Diamide also restored biological activity to NAC or DTT-treated TGF-beta. Reduction of TGF-beta to monomers could competitively inhibit active dimeric TGF-beta and block intracellular signaling events. Our observations suggest that modulation of the oxidative state of TGF-beta may be a novel therapeutic approach for patients with pulmonary fibrosis.
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PMID:NAC and DTT promote TGF-beta1 monomer formation: demonstration of competitive binding. 1660 67