3.5 | Treatment with TGF-β1 increased MG53, TGF-β1,
Col-a1, and ZO-1 expression, whereas treatment with TGF-β1 inhibitor
decreased the expression
In vitro cytokine stimulation experiments were conducted to verify the
regulatory relationship between MG53 and the TGF-β1/Smad pathway. We
found that TGF-β1 stimulation increased the expression of MG53, TGF-β1,
Col-a1, and ZO-1, whereas TGF-β1 inhibitor treatment decreased the
expression in HNECs (Fig. 5A). The results of western blot and qRT-PCR
analyses showed that MG53, TGF-β1, Smad2/3, ZO-1, and Col-a1 were
significantly increased after TGF-β1 stimulation, but decreased after
treatment with TGF-β1 inhibitor in HNECs of CRSwNP (Fig. 5B–C). The
results of immunofluorescence analysis of ZO-1 showed that the mean
fluorescence intensity was significantly enhanced by TGF-β1, but
decreased upon TGF-β1 inhibitor treatment. Ad-MG53 did not cause
significant enhancement in the mean fluorescence intensity of ZO-1 (Fig.
5D).