Connective tissue growth factor antisense oligonucleotide inhibit human renal tubular epithelial-myofibroblast transdifferentiation induced by TGFβ_1

[Objective]To investigate the expression and effect of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) during the process of human tubular epithelial-myofibroblast transdifferentiation (TEMT) induced by transforming growth factorβ-1 (TGFβ1). Based on feasibility of CTGF antisense oligonucleotide (AS) encapsulated with cationic liposome DOTAP was transfected into HKCs by a way of low toxicity and high efficiency was proved by MTT method and fluorescence analysis, HKC cultured in vitro were divided into four groups: Control (C). TGFβ1 treatment(T). TGFβ1 and AS treatment (T+AS). TGFβ1 and CTGF scrambled oligonucleotide treatment (T+SC). After treated 96 hours, CTGF and alpha-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA) expression were examined by immunohistochemical staining, Western blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The relation between the expression of CTGF and α-SMA was analyzed. C: Both CTGF and α-SMA expression were negative. T: Both CTGF and α-SMA expression were positive. AS: Compared with T group, Both CTGF and α-SMA expression were positive but significantly decreased (P 0.01). SC: Compared with T group, Both CTGF and α-SMA expression were similar (P 0.05). Both CTGF and α-SMA expression were similar with T group (P 0.05). CTGF expression was linear with α-SMA expression, and there was a positive correlation between the CTGF expression and α-SMA expression. [Conclusions] CTGF AS can inhibit efficiently TEMT induced by TGFβ1, which indicated CTGF is essential to TEMT induced by TGFβ1.