Figure 6.

TWEAK/Fn14-induced non-canonical NFκB activation promotes h-VSMCs loss of contractile phenotype but does not modulate bmp2 expression. h-VSMCss were transfected with either scrambled or RelB siRNA and exposed or not for 7 days to TWEAK in pro-calcific conditions (3.0 mmol/l Pi). (a) Impact of RelB downregulation on TWEAK/Fn14-induced h-VSMCs calcification. Mineralization was measured by Alizarin red staining. Scale bars: 500 μm. *P<0.05 vs scrambled transfected cells without TWEAK. ^$P<0.05 vs cells transfected with RelA siRNA and not exposed to TWEAK. ^†P<0.05 vs scrambled transfected cells exposed to TWEAK. Results represent three independent experiments performed in triplicate. Error bars represent the S.E.M. (b–d) Impact of RelB downregulation on TWEAK-induced modulation of acta2 (b), myh11 (c) and bmp2 (d) mRNA expression, assessed by quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR. *P<0.05 vs scrambled transfected cells without TWEAK. ^$P<0.05 vs siRNA RelB transfected cells without TWEAK. ^†P<0.05 vs scrambled transfected cells exposed to TWEAK. Results represent three independent experiments performed in triplicate. Error bars represent the S.E.M. NS, not significant