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Transforming growth factor beta 1 induces apoptotic cell death in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells
T Tsukada1, K Eguchi, K Migita
1First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
Abstract:
Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) is a potent growth inhibitor of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). We investigated whether apoptosis is involved in the TGF-beta 1 mediated HUVEC growth inhibition. Using immunofluorescence microscopy and staining by propidium iodide, we showed HUVEC treated with TGF-beta 1 contained characteristic apoptotic nuclei with condensation of chromatin. FACS analysis demonstrated that the number of cells with hypodiploid DNA contents were increased in HUVEC treated with TGF-beta 1. The DNA fragmentation assay exhibited typical ladder formation in TGF-beta 1-treated HUVEC. Using Western blot analysis, the expression of bcl-2 on HUVEC was down-regulated by TGF-beta 1-treatment. These findings suggest that TGF-beta 1 regulates the growth of HUVEC by inducing apoptosis accompanied with down-regulation of bcl-2 expression.