FIGURE 5.

Inhibition of ERK1/2 promotes DKK3 induced myocardin expression. The cells were infected with shDKK3, and phosphorylated ERK1/2 was detected by Western blot analysis (A). Blocking of the DKK3 cytokine after overexpression of DKK3 rescued the ERK1/2 activity (B). To test the role of ERK1/2 in the DKK3 induced myocardin expression, the ERK signaling inhibitor (PD98059) was used after overexpression of DKK3. Cells treated with PD98059 displayed an increase in the transcription of myocardin and SMC markers (C). ATF6 as well as SM22 were significantly up-regulated as shown by Western blot analysis (D) and quantification of three individual experiments (the mean ± S.E.) (E).