RESEARCH ARTICLE
Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins-3 and -5: Central Mediators of Fibrosis and Promising New Therapeutic Targets
Kristen L Veraldi , Carol A Feghali-Bostwick*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2012Volume: 6
Issue: Suppl 1
First Page: 140
Last Page: 145
Publisher ID: TORJ-6-140
DOI: 10.2174/1874312901206010140
Article History:
Received Date: 3/3/2012Revision Received Date: 27/3/2012
Acceptance Date: 4/4/2012
Electronic publication date: 15/6/2012
Collection year: 2012
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Fibrosis involves an orchestrated cascade of events including activation of fibroblasts, increased production and deposition of extracellular matrix components, and differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts. Epithelial-mesenchymal cross-talk plays an important role in this process, and current hypotheses of organ fibrosis liken it to an aberrant wound healing response in which epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cellular senescence may also contribute to disease pathogenesis. The fibrotic response is associated with altered expression of growth factors and cytokines, including increased levels of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and the more recent observation that increased levels of several insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) are associated with a number of fibrotic conditions. IGFBPs have been implicated in virtually every cell type and process associated with the fibrotic response, making the IGFBPs attractive targets for the development of novel anti-fibrotic therapies. In this review, the current state of knowledge regarding the classical IGFBP family in organ fibrosis will be summarized and the clinical implications considered.
