Fig. 5

Effects of Smad3 inhibitor (SIS3) under TGF-β2 stimulation on the mRNA expression levels of CTGF and ATX (n = 4). After treatment with various concentrations of TGF-β2 (0–10 ng/ml), the relative mRNA expression level of CTGF was significantly upregulated compared with controls, but this upregulation was significantly suppressed by treatment with 10 μM SIS3 (A). In contrast, the expression level of ATX did not change after treatment with SIS3 (B). ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001. C Possible mechanisms of TGF-β2-medated ATX expression in hTM cells. Expression of ATX may be mediated through a non-canonical TGF-β pathway, but not the canonical TGF-β pathway