Lentiviral-Mediated RNA Interference against TGF-Beta Receptor Type II in Renal Epithelial and Fibroblast Cell Populations In Vitro Demonstrates Regulated Renal Fibrogenesis That Is More Efficient than a Nonlentiviral Vector

Figure 4

Inhibition of ECM by TBRII RNAi in renal cell lines. Western immunoblots of protein extracts from human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293T), rat renal fibroblasts (NRK-49F), and epithelial cells (NRK-52E) showed significantly reduced ECM production after TBRII RNAi plasmid transfection (fibronectin is abbreviated as “F’nectin” beside the Western immunoblots). There was significantly decreased collagen III and fibronectin expression post-transfection with pPlasRi-TBRII and pLentiRi-TBRII in NRK-49F and NRK-52E cell lines. In comparison with pPlasRi-TBRII, pLentiRi-TBRII produced a stronger and longer inhibitory effect on collagen III in NRK-49F and on fibronectin in all 3 tested cell lines (**𝑃<.01 and *𝑃<.05 in comparison with controls).