Expression of bone morphogenic protein 7 mRNA in MDCK cells.

Recently, a family of proteins, bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs), have been identified, which promote osteoblast differentiation and bone mineralization. One of them, BMP7, has been shown to be expressed at high levels in the kidney. We detected the message in a kidney tubular cell line, Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. After serum starved for 48h, 8-bromo-cAMP enhanced BMP7 mRNA at 3h and forskolin enhanced it at 6h to 24h in MDCK cells. PMA increased BMP7 mRNA at 6h but down-regulated it at 12h and 20h. The result suggests that BMP7 gene expression may be regulated in MDCK cells by PKA and PKC. MDCK cells can be used in further studies of BMP7 regulation.