Influence of TGF-β1 on the expression of thrombospondin 1 in human tubular epithelial cells

Objective To investigate the influence of TGF- β1 on the expression ofthrombospondin 1 (TSP-1) in human tubular epithelial cells. Methods Human tubular epithelialcell (HKCs) line were cultured in vitro with DMEM/F12 (1:1). HKCs were divided into towgroups: ① Normal control groups (C groups):HKCs were cultured in free serum medium (FSM);② TGF-β1 groups (T groups): HKCs werecultured in FSM contained TGF-β1. All cells wereredivided into there subgroups C1, C2, C3 and T1, T2, T3 by culturing 24, 72 and 120hours respectively. The expression of TSP-1 were detected with Immunohistochemistry. Theexpression of TSP-1 mRNA were analyzed by RT-PCR. The corelation between the relativeculture time and TSP-1 mRNA were analyzed. Results TSP-1 expression were negative in C groupsand T1 group. However, the expression were positive in T2 group and strong positive in T3group compared with C2 and C3 groups respectively, P0.01. Statistical analysis showedthat there was a positive correlation between culture time and TSP-1 mRNA expression (R =0.758, P0.01). Conclusions TGF-β1 could time dependenly induce the expression of TSP-1 in HKCs with.