Requirement of type III TGF-beta receptor for endocardial cell transformation in the heart.

Brown, C B; Boyer, A S; Runyan, R B; Barnett, J V · Science · 1999

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) signaling is mediated by a complex of type I (TBRI) and type II (TBRII) receptors. The type III receptor (TBRIII) lacks a recognizable signaling domain and has no clearly defined role in TGF-beta signaling. Cardiac endothelial cells that undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transformation express TBRIII, and here TBRIII-specific antisera were found to inhibit mesenchyme formation and migration in atrioventricular cushion explants. Misexpression of TBRIII in nontransforming ventricular endothelial cells conferred transformation in response to TGF-beta2. These results support a model where TBRIII localizes transformation in the heart and plays an essential, nonredundant role in TGF-beta signaling.

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