Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Xi'an JiaoTong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, PR China.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2010 Jan 25;11:15. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-11-15.
Gluteal muscle contracture (GMC) is a multi-factor human chronic fibrotic disease of the gluteal muscle. Fibrotic tissue is characterized by excessive accumulation of collagen in the muscle's extracellular matrix. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 and -beta2 are thought to play an important role in fibrogenesis, while TGF-beta3 is believed to have an anti-fibrotic function. We hypothesize that the expression of collagen and TGF-betas would be up-regulated in GMC patients.
The expression of collagen type I, type III and TGF-betas were studied in 23 fibrotic samples and 23 normal/control samples in GMC patients using immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western bolt analysis.
Compared to the unaffected adjacent muscle, increased expression of TGF-beta1 and -beta3 was associated with deposition of collagen type I and type III in the fibrotic muscle of the GMC patients at the mRNA level. Strong up-regulation of these proteins in fibrotic muscle was confirmed by immunohistochemical staining and western blot analysis. TGF-beta2 was not up-regulated in relation to GMC.
This study confirmed our hypothesis that collagen types I, III, TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta3 were up-regulated in biopsy specimens obtained from patients with GMC. Complex interaction of TGF-beta1 with profibrotic function and TGF-beta3 with antifibrotic function may increase synthesis of collagens and thereby significantly contribute to the process of gluteal muscle scarring in patients with GMC.
臀肌挛缩症（GMC）是一种多因素的人类慢性臀肌纤维性疾病。纤维组织的特征是肌肉细胞外基质中胶原过度积累。转化生长因子（TGF）-β1 和 -β2 被认为在纤维化发生中起重要作用，而 TGF-β3 被认为具有抗纤维化功能。我们假设 GMC 患者的胶原和 TGF-βs 的表达会上调。
采用免疫组织化学、逆转录和聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）和 Western blot 分析检测 23 例纤维性样本和 23 例 GMC 患者正常/对照样本中胶原 I 型、胶原 III 型和 TGF-βs 的表达。
与未受影响的相邻肌肉相比，TGF-β1 和 -β3 的表达增加与 GMC 患者纤维性肌肉中胶原 I 型和胶原 III 型的沉积有关。免疫组织化学染色和 Western blot 分析证实了这些蛋白在纤维性肌肉中的强烈上调。TGF-β2 与 GMC 无关。
本研究证实了我们的假设，即 I 型、III 型胶原、TGF-β1 和 TGF-β3 在 GMC 患者活检标本中上调。TGF-β1 与促纤维化功能的复杂相互作用和 TGF-β3 与抗纤维化功能的复杂相互作用可能会增加胶原的合成，从而显著促进 GMC 患者臀肌瘢痕形成过程。
