Fig. 8.

Effect of ITGA11 genetic modification on fibroblast features. (A) ITGA11 was knocked down using siRNA in HFL‐1 and proteins were extracted and subjected to western blot analysis to detect the expression levels of each target (see Section 2.6). Vertical axis: (B) ITGA11, (C) COL11A1, (D) integrin α5, (E) integrin β1, (F) fibronectin, and (G) α‐SMA protein expression normalized to β‐actin, (H) p‐ERK1/2 protein expression normalized to t‐ERK1/2 and (I) p‐SMAD3 protein expression normalized to t‐SMAD3. (J) Migration toward fibronectin (20 µg·mL⁻¹) was assessed after silencing ITGA11. Vertical axis: number of migrated cells per 5HPF. (K) Migration toward collagen type I (1 µg·mL⁻¹) was assessed after silencing ITGA11. (B‐K; n ≥ 3, one‐way ANOVA) Vertical axis: number of migrated cells per 5HPF. (L) NIH 3T3 cells were transfected with ITGA11‐overexpression vector or GFP and subjected to western blot analysis to detect the ITGA11 and α‐SMA expression levels (see Section 2.7). (M) Migration toward fibronectin (20 µg·mL⁻¹) was assessed with ITGA11‐overexpressing NIH 3T3 cells. (M; n = 8, Mann–Whitney) Vertical axis: number of migrated cells per 5HPF. The values represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ****P < 0.0001.