Fig. 7: Inhibition of autophagy deactivates myofibroblasts and induces regression of fibrosis.
From: TGFβ promotes fibrosis by MYST1-dependent epigenetic regulation of autophagy
a, b Knockdown of ATG7 and BECLIN-1 in human fibroblasts. a Schematic illustration of the experimental procedure. b Expression of αSMA (green) and formation of stress fibers (red), costained with DAPI (blue). Representative images and quantification of αSMA and Stress fibers fluorescence intensity (n = 4 biological replicates per group). Horizontal scale bar, 50 µm. c, d Effects of Atg7 knockdown in a model of established bleomycin-induced skin fibrosis. c Schematic illustration of the experimental procedure. d Representative trichrome stainings, Col1a1 mRNA, hydroxyproline content, dermal thickness (n = 5 biological replicates per group) and myofibroblast counts (n = 4 biological replicates for Bleo 7w + Atg7 siRNA 3w group and n = 5 for other groups). e Representative western blot and quantification of ATG7 protein levels (n = 4 biological replicates per group). Horizontal scale bar, 100 µm. All data are presented as median ± IQR. p-values were determined by ANOVA one-way with Tukey’s multiple comparison post hoc test and are indicated in the figure. See source data for more detailed information. Fluo.: fluorescence, Bleo: bleomycin. Fib: fibroblasts, Deact MyoFib: deactivated myofibroblasts, w: weeks. Western blot samples in panel d were run on the same gel. Images were cropped at the lines only for the purpose of this figure.
