Research progress on the role of TGF-β signaling pathway in fibrotic diseases / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Fibrotic disease is a type of disease in which the body is affected by various stimulating factors, which causes the activation or phenotypic transformation of myofibroblasts, increases the expression of collagen and excessive deposition of extracellular matrix, resulting in damage to the structure and function of organs. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is currently recognized as a signal transduction pathway involved in the occurrence of fibrotic diseases, and plays an important role in regulating the occurrence and development of fibrotic diseases such as lung, liver, myocardium, kidney and pancreas. In recent years, many studies have explored the role of TGF-β signaling pathway in the occurrence and development of fibrotic diseases, while to inhibit the activation of TGF-β signaling pathway might have anti-fibrosis effects, but the mechanism has not been fully understood. Therefore, the research progress of the role of TGF-β signaling pathway in such fibrotic diseases as lung, liver, myocardium, kidney and pancreas, and so on, has mainly been reviewed in present paper, so as to provide new strategies for the selection of therapeutic targets for fibrotic diseases.