Gremlin Activates the Smad Pathway Linked to Epithelial Mesenchymal Transdifferentiation in Cultured Tubular Epithelial Cells

Figure 8

Dual effects of Gremlin on Smad activation. Gremlin induces an early (minutes) and direct, TGF-β-independent, Smad pathway activation. After 24 hours Gremlin increased several profibrotic genes, including TGF-β, and after 48 hours increased TGF-β production and induced EMT features. These long-term Gremlin-induced profibrotic events require autocrine TGF-β.