Figure 5

Cat K expression is reduced in response to TGF-β1 in control and silicotic mouse lung fibroblasts. Cat K mRNA quantification in pulmonary fibroblasts of C57BL/6 mice. (A) Control fibroblasts were incubated with 1 or 10 ng cytokine/ml. Bars represent the mean of triplicate measurements of Cat K expression on the same sample. The Cat K downregulation by TGF-β was reproduced in 4 independent experiments. (B) Fibroblasts from control (pool of 10 animals) and silicotic (pool of 7 animals, silica) mice collected 2 months after instillation and incubated at least in duplicates without (non-treated) or with 10 ng TGF-β1/ml (TGF-beta). The results are representative of 2 independent experiments (P < 0.001 in this experiment between non-treated and TGF-β treated fibroblasts, either control or silicotic). Values are presented as means ± SEM.