| First Author | Crawford SE | Year | 1998 |
| Journal | Cell | Volume | 93 |
| Issue | 7 | Pages | 1159-70 |
| PubMed ID | 9657149 | Mgi Jnum | J:48446 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1270011 | Doi | 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81460-9 |
| Citation | Crawford SE, et al. (1998) Thrombospondin-1 is a major activator of TGF-beta1 in vivo. Cell 93(7):1159-70 |
| abstractText | The activity of TGF-beta1 is regulated primarily extracellularly where the secreted latent form must be modified to expose the active molecule. Here we show that thrombospondin-1 is responsible for a significant proportion of the activation of TGF-beta1 in vivo. Histological abnormalities in young TGF-beta1 null and thrombospondin-1 null mice were strikingly similar in nine organ systems. Lung and pancreas pathologies similar to those observed in TGF-beta1 null animals could be induced in wild-type pups by systemic treatment with a peptide that blocked the activation of TGF-beta1 by thrombospondin-1. Although these organs produced little active TGF-beta1 in thrombospondin null mice, when pups were treated with a peptide derived from thrombospondin-1 that could activate TGF-beta1, active cytokine was detected in situ, and the lung and pancreatic abnormalities reverted toward wild type. |
