| Literature DB >> 22131029 |
Paulette M Robinson1, Timothy D Blalock, Rong Yuan, Alfred S Lewin, Gregory S Schultz.
Abstract
Excessive scarring (fibrosis) is a major cause of pathologies in multiple tissues, including lung, liver, kidney, heart, cornea, and skin. The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) system has been shown to play a key role in regulating the formation of scar tissue throughout the body. Furthermore, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) has been shown to mediate most of the fibrotic actions of TGF-β, including stimulation of synthesis of extracellular matrix and differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts. Currently, no approved drugs selectively and specifically regulate scar formation. Thus, there is a need for a drug that selectively targets the TGF-β cascade at the molecular level and has minimal off-target side effects. This chapter focuses on the design of hammerhead ribozymes, measurement of kinetic activity, and assessment of knockdown mRNAs of TGF-β and CTGF in cell cultures.Entities:
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Year: 2012 PMID： 22131029 PMCID： PMC3660091 DOI： 10.1007/978-1-61779-439-1_8
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Methods Mol Biol ISSN： 1064-3745