Effects of Antisense Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Gene Transfer on the Biological Activities of Tendon Sheath Fibroblasts

Recent studies have shown the importance of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) in flexor tendon wound healing. Decreased adhesion formation and increased range of motion after the administration of TGF-β antibodies after tendon repair have been shown. But TGF-β antibodies have a short biologic half-life, and continuous supplementation of exogenous TGF-β antibodies is not practical. Transfer of growth factor genes to tenocytes provides an alternative to protein therapeutics, and a gene therapy approach will prolong the availability of therapeutic proteins. We investigated the biological activities effects of rabbit tendon sheath fibroblasts transfected by antisense TGF-β1 gene. Tendon sheath fibroblasts were isolated from New Zealand white rabbits and transfected by antisense TGF-β1 gene with Lipofectin (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, California). Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to measure collagen I, collagen III, and TGF-β1 expression, and Western blot was used to measure collagen protein I expression in tendon sheath fibroblasts after being transfected by antisense TGF-β1 gene. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction displayed that tendon sheath fibroblasts transfected with antisense TGF-β1 gene showed marked decrease collagen I, collagen III, and TGF-β1 mRNA expression. Western blot showed that tendon sheath fibroblasts transfected with antisense TGF-β1 gene showed marked decrease expression of collagen I protein, and there was significant difference compared with the untransfected and empty transfected groups ( P <.01). Tendon sheath fibroblasts can transfect with antisense TGF-β1 gene successfully and can decrease production of collagen I, collagen III, and TGF-β1, which were factors of tendon adhere formation.