FIG 1.

Loss of FHL2 enhances TGF-β1 expression in the liver. (A) TGF-β1 cytokine in Kupffer cells isolated from WT and Fhl2^−/− animals, as evaluated by ELISA. **, P < 0.005. The data are the means and standard deviations (SD) obtained from five animals in each genotype. (B) Analysis of TGF-β1, TGF-β2, and TGF-β3 mRNAs by real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR in the indicated tissues from WT and Fhl2^−/− mice. The values for the WT tissues were arbitrarily set as 1. The averages and SD values for three independent experiments are shown. *, P < 0.05. (C) Analysis of expression of SnoN, Ski, and Smad2/3 and phosphorylation of Smad2/3 in the livers of four WT and four Fhl2^−/− animals by immunoblotting. NS, nonspecific.