TGF-β Isoforms Affect the Planar and Subepithelial Fibrogenesis of Human Conjunctival Fibroblasts in Different Manners

Three highly homologous isoforms of TGF-β, TGF-β-1~3, are involved in the regulation of various pathophysiological conditions such as wound healing processes in different manners, despite the fact that they bind to the same receptors during their activation. The purpose of the current investigation was to elucidate the contributions of TGF-β-1 ~3 to the pathology associated with conjunctiva. For this purpose, the biological effects of these TGF-β isoforms on the structural and functional properties of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) cultured human conjunctival fibroblasts (HconF) were subjected to the following analyses: 1) transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER), a Seahorse cellular metabolic measurement (2D), size and stiffness measurements of the 3D HTM spheroids, and the qPCR gene expression analyses of extracellular matrix (ECM) components (2D and 3D). The TGF-β isoforms caused different effects on the proliferation of the HconF cell monolayer evaluated by TEER measurements. The differences included a significant increase in the presence of 5 ng/mL TGF-β-1 and -2 and a substantial decrease in the presence of 5 ng/mL TGF-β-3, although there were no significant differences in the response to the TGF-β isoforms for cellular metabolism among the three groups. Similar to planar proliferation, the TGF-β isoforms also induced diverse effects toward the mechanical aspects of 3D HconF spheroids, where TGF-β-1 increased stiffness, TGF-β-2 caused no significant effects, and TGF-β-3 caused the downsizing of the spheroids and stiffness enhancement. The mRNA expression of the ECMs were also modulated in diverse manners by the TGF-β isoforms as well as the culture conditions for the 2D vs. 3D isoforms. Many of these TGF-β-3 inducible effects were markedly different from those caused by TGF-β1 and TGF-β-2. The findings presented herein suggest that the three TGF-β isoforms induce diverse and distinctly different effects on cellular properties and the expressions of ECM molecules in HconF and that these changes are independent of cellular metabolism, thereby inducing different effects on the epithelial and subepithelial proliferation of human conjunctiva.