Involvement of ERK1/2 pathway in TGF-beta1-induced VEGF secretion in normal human cytotrophoblast cells. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) plays a pivotal role in the angiogenesis during the development of placenta, but the intracellular signaling mechanism by which TGF-beta1 stimulates this process remains poorly understood. In this article, we demonstrated that exposure of normal human cytotrophoblast cells to TGF-beta1 stimulated the secretion of the VEGF gene encoding vascular endothelial growth factor, which is a key factor in angiogenesis. Meanwhile, treatment of normal human cytotrophoblast cells with TGF-beta1-induced expression of HIF-1a, the regulated subunit of hypoxia-inducible factor 1, a known transactivator of the VEGF gene. Our data indicated that TGF-beta1 induced extracellular signal- regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 phosphorylation in normal human cytotrophoblast cells. Moreover, treating cells with PD98059, an inhibitor of ERK1/2 signaling, inhibited TGF-beta1 stimulation of VEGF secretion and HIF-1a protein expression. These data indicated that in normal human cytotrophoblast cells, TGF-beta1 induced HIF-1a-mediated VEGF secretion, and TGF-beta1-stimulated-ERK1/2 activation may be involved in this process.

published proceedings

  • Mol Reprod Dev

author list (cited authors)

  • Qian, D., Lin, H., Wang, H., Zhang, X., Liu, D., Li, Q., & Zhu, C.

citation count

  • 31

complete list of authors

  • Qian, Dong||Lin, Hai-Yan||Wang, Hong-Mei||Zhang, Xuan||Liu, Dong-Lin||Li, Qing-Lei||Zhu, Cheng

publication date

  • June 2004

publisher