Research Article

Curcumin Inhibits Joint Contracture through PTEN Demethylation and Targeting PI3K/Akt/mTOR Pathway in Myofibroblasts from Human Joint Capsule

Figure 5

Curcumin suppresses fibrosis partly by downregulating the expression of PTEN via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. (a) Western blot analysis was used to determine the protein levels of PTEN, p-mTOR, mTOR, p-AKT, and AKT. The corresponding internal control was actin. (b) The ratios of PTEN/actin, p-mTOR/TOR, and p-Akt/Akt in the contracture group, the curcumin group, the siRNA PTEN group, and the siRNA PTEN + curcumin group were calculated. relative to the curcumin group. PTEN, phosphatase and tension homolog; PI3K/Akt/mTOR, phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin; p-AKT, phosphorylated AKT; p-mTOR, phosphorylated mTOR; siRNA, small-interfering RNA.
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