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. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
CITATION STYLE
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. Methods in Molecular Biology, 820, 117–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-439-1_8
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