Role for integrin-linked kinase in mediating tubular epithelial to mesenchymal transition and renal interstitial fibrogenesis
J. Clin. Invest. Yingjian Li, et al. 112:503 doi:10.1172/JCI17913 [Go to this article.]

Figure 4
Forced expression of ILK induces fibronectin expression and its extracellular assembly. (a) Northern blot analysis shows that forced expression of ILK induces fibronectin (Fn) mRNA expression in tubular epithelial cells. Total RNA was isolated from different cell lines as indicated and hybridized with cDNA probes of fibronectin and GAPDH, respectively. Cont., control parental HKC cells; vector, HKC cells transplanted with empty vector. (b) Western blot demonstrates that either treatment with TGF-β1 or forced expression of ILK induced total fibronectin protein expression in tubular epithelial cells. Cell lysates were immunoblotted with Ab’s against fibronectin and actin, respectively. (c) Expression of ILK promotes the extracellular assembly of fibronectin. Extracellular protein extracts were prepared from various cells as indicated and subjected to Western blot analyses using fibronectin Ab. (d) Graphical presentation shows the effects of ILK expression on the relative extent of total fibronectin expression and its extracellular assembly. Data are presented as fold induction over the empty vector control cells. (e and f) Immunofluorescence staining demonstrates the extracellular assembly of fibronectin in tubular epithelial cells transfected with empty vector (e) or WT-ILK (f). Scale bar, 5 μm.