Effects of Quercetin on Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cell Undergoing Endothelial-to-mesenchymal Transition Induced by TGF-β1 / 中国中医药信息杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effectsof quercetin on human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC)-12 undergoing endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) induced by TGF-β1; To discuss its mechanism of action. Methods Cell activity of intervening by quercetin with different concentrations and TGF-β1 for 72 h was detected by CCK-8 method;RT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining were used to detect the transition of endothelial and stromal markers; Western blot was used to detect the signal transduction pathway; RT-PCR was performed to detect the transcription factors that play crucial roles in the process of transformation. Results The results of RT-PCR and immunofluorescence double staining showed that TGF-β1 (10 ng/mL) stimulated HUVEC-12 cells for 72 h to induce fibroblast phenotype, showing more interstitial markers and less endothelial markers;Western blot and RT-PCR results showed that quercetin inhibited the phosphorylation of smad2/3 in a concentration-dependent manner;After TGF-β1 stimulation, the downstream transcription factors EndMT of snail1, twist1, twist2, ZEB1, and ZEB2 significantly increased, while 100 μmol/L quercetin could down-regulate the five downstream transcription factors. Conclusion Quercetin has anti-fibrosis effects through inhibiting HUVEC-12 cells undergoing EndMT.