Figure 5. Overexpression of rac in normal fibroblasts results in a profibrotic phenotype in a PI3kinase/Akt-dependent fashion: protein analysis.

(A) Transfection of constitutively active rac (ca rac), compared to empty expression vector (empty), increases profibrotic protein expression. Twenty four hours post-transfection, protein was harvested and subjected to Western blot analysis was conducted with antibodies detecting the proteins indicated. Average +/− standard deviation is shown (N = 3, * = p<0.05). (B) The effect of rac overexpression is reduced by PI3 kinase inhibition. Cells were transfected with empty expression vector or constitutively active rac (ca rac) in the presence or absence of 100 nM wortmannin, 10 µM Ly294002, 10 µM U0126 and 10 µM SP600125. Cells were then processed for Western blot analysis as described in (A).