Cell Models to Study Regulation of Cell Transformation in Pathologies of Retinal Pigment Epithelium

Figure 2

Transcriptional regulation of EMT induced by TGF-β (according to Xu et al. [94]). In response to TGF-β, Smad2 and Smad3 are activated to form complexes with Smad4, which then regulate the transcription of target genes through interactions with other DNA binding transcription factors. In the induction of EMT, the activated Smads mediate transcriptional regulation through three families of transcription factors, which results in repression of epithelial marker gene expression and activation of mesenchymal gene expression.