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Growth factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of
glomerulosclerosisin various progressive renal diseases. Growth
factors released by glomerularcells after glomerular injury
renders mesangial cells growth and extracellularmatrix
accumulation. This repair process reestablishes glomerular
integrity andfunction. However, overexpressed growth factors
results in mesangial cellsproliferation and pathologic matrix
accumulation. Marked accumulation of themesangial extracellular
matrix is a hallmark The results are (1) HB-EGF stimulated [3
H]-thymidine incorporation and cellnumber of rat mesangial
cells. (2) Northern blot analysis revealed that HB-EGFpeptide
increased fibronectin mRNA by 3 and 5 folds at the concentration
of4.2×10-10 M and 8.3×10-10 M at 72 h, respectively. The
stimulating effect ofHB-EGF on fibronectin mRNA was both time-
and dose-dependent. While epidermalgrowth factor (8.3×10-10 M)
did not affect fibronectin mRNA expression. (3)HB-EGF enhanced
the fibronectin protein synthes To our knowledge, we firstly
demonstrated that HB-EGF could enhance theexpression of
fibronectin mRNA and protein in mesangial cells. We also
provedthat HB-EGF could stimulate mesangial cell proliferation.
The above resultssuggest that HB-EGF may play some role in the
normal mesangial physiologicactivity and the pathogenesis of
glomerulosclerosis.
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