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Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in age-related vascular pathologies

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Abstract

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF, also known as CCN2) is a matricellular protein expressed in the vascular wall, which regulates diverse cellular functions including cell adhesion, matrix production, structural remodeling, angiogenesis, and cell proliferation and differentiation. CTGF is principally regulated at the level of transcription and is induced by mechanical stresses and a number of cytokines and growth factors, including TGFβ. In this mini-review, the role of age-related dysregulation of CTGF signaling and its role in a range of macro- and microvascular pathologies, including pathogenesis of aorta aneurysms, atherogenesis, and diabetic retinopathy, are discussed. A potential role of CTGF and TGFβ in regulation and non-cell autonomous propagation of cellular senescence is also discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the American Heart Association (ST, ZU, and AC), the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (to AC, AY, ZU), the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (R01-AT006526 to ZU), the National Institute on Aging (R01-AG047879, R01-AG038747, P30 AG050911), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS; R01-NS056218 to AC), the Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources (OSCTR) program funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54GM104938, to AY), the Presbyterian Health Foundation (to ZU, AC, AY), and the EU-funded Hungarian grant EFOP-3.6.1-16-2016-00008. The authors acknowledge the support from the NIA-funded Geroscience Training Program in Oklahoma (T32AG052363).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reynolds Oklahoma Center on Aging, Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 975 N. E. 10th Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA

    Zoltan Ungvari, Marta Noa Valcarcel-Ares, Stefano Tarantini, Andriy Yabluchanskiy, Gábor A. Fülöp, Tamas Kiss & Anna Csiszar

  2. Translational Geroscience Laboratory, Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA

    Zoltan Ungvari, Marta Noa Valcarcel-Ares, Stefano Tarantini, Andriy Yabluchanskiy, Gábor A. Fülöp & Anna Csiszar

  3. Department of Medical Physics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Science and Informatics, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary

    Zoltan Ungvari, Tamas Kiss & Anna Csiszar

  4. Division of Clinical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

    Gábor A. Fülöp

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  1. Zoltan Ungvari
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  2. Marta Noa Valcarcel-Ares
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Correspondence to Anna Csiszar.

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Ungvari, Z., Valcarcel-Ares, M.N., Tarantini, S. et al. Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in age-related vascular pathologies. GeroScience 39, 491–498 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-017-9995-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-017-9995-5

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