Abstract
Excessive scarring (fibrosis) is a major cause of pathologies in multiple tissues, including lung, liver, kidney, heart, cornea, and skin. The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) system has been shown to play a key role in regulating the formation of scar tissue throughout the body. Furthermore, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) has been shown to mediate most of the fibrotic actions of TGF-β, including stimulation of synthesis of extracellular matrix and differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts. Currently, no approved drugs selectively and specifically regulate scar formation. Thus, there is a need for a drug that selectively targets the TGF-β cascade at the molecular level and has minimal off-target side effects. This chapter focuses on the design of hammerhead ribozymes, measurement of kinetic activity, and assessment of knockdown mRNAs of TGF-β and CTGF in cell cultures.
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Robinson, P.M., Blalock, T.D., Yuan, R., Lewin, A.S., Schultz, G.S. (2012). Hammerhead Ribozyme-Mediated Knockdown of mRNA for Fibrotic Growth Factors: Transforming Growth Factor-Beta 1 and Connective Tissue Growth Factor. In: De Ley, M. (eds) Cytokine Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 820. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-439-1_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-439-1_8
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