Figure 6.

Klotho inhibits Wnt-mediated β-catenin activation and represses its target genes in vitro. Chondrocytes were transfected with empty vector or Klotho expression vector as indicated, followed by incubation with or without CTS(1 HZ) for 48 hours. Western blot (A, B) and quantitative data (C, D) for Wnt1, Wnt4 and Wnt7a in the cell supernatant and GSK3β, p-GSK3β, MMP2, MMP9 and active β-catenin are presented. Klotho abolished CTS-mediated Wnt actions. (E, F) RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA in different groups. Results were obtained via the expression of three individual experiments performed in triplicate for each condition. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01.