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Updated: May 24, 2025

Isolation, Culture, and Characterization of Primary Dermal Fibroblasts from Human Keloid Tissue
Published on: July 28, 2023
Osteoprotegerin is induced by transforming growth factor-beta 1 and regulates pro-fibrotic responses in human dermal
Aaron K McDowell-Sanchez1, Alan R Waich Cohen1, Santiago Sanchez2
1Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Abstract:
Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-β1) is known to play a key role in the progression of organ fibrosis. Here, we demonstrate that TGF-β1 induces osteoprotegerin (OPG) expression in human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) at both protein and mRNA levels. OPG neutralization has led to attenuation of TGF-β1-mediated profibrotic effects in HDFs. Further, we found that recombinant OPG induced fibronectin (FN) production and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression. Interestingly, the OPG-mediated effect was significantly attenuated by αvβ3-integrin inhibitors (cyclo(RGDfK) and cilengitide) suggesting that OPG exerts profibrotic responses in human dermal fibroblasts by regulating αvβ3-integrin activation. Taken together, our data suggest that OPG expression is stimulated by TGF-β1 and contributes to dermal fibroblast activation.
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