Endoglin haploinsufficiency is associated with differential regulation of extracellular matrix production during skin fibrosis and cartilage repair in mice

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β is a multifunctional growth factor with potent pro-fibrotic effects. Endoglin is a TGF-β co-receptor that strongly regulates TGF-β signaling in a variety of cell types. Although aberrant regulation of TGF-β signaling is known to play a key role in fibrotic diseases such as scleroderma and impaired cartilage repair, the significance of endoglin function in regulating these processes is poorly understood. Here we examined whether endoglin haploinsufficiency regulates extracellular (ECM) protein expression and fibrotic responses during bleomycin induced skin fibrosis and surgically induced osteoarthritis, using endoglin-heterozygous (Eng+/−) mice and wild-type (Eng+/+) littermates. Skin fibrosis was induced by injecting mice intradermally with bleomycin or vehicle. Osteoarthritis was induced surgically by destabilization of medial meniscus. Dermal thickness, cartilage integrity and ECM protein expression were then determined. Eng+/− mice subjected to bleomycin challenge show a marked decrease in dermal thickness ( P < 0.005) and reduced collagen content and decreased collagen I, fibronectin, alpha-smooth muscle actin levels as compared to Eng+/+ mice, both under basal and bleomycin treated conditions. Eng+/− mice undergoing surgically induced osteoarthritis show no differences in the degree of cartilage degradation, as compared to Eng+/+ mice, although chondrocytes isolated from Eng +/− display markedly enhanced collagen II levels. Our findings suggest that endoglin haploinsufficiency in mice ameliorates bleomycin-induced skin fibrosis suggesting that endoglin represents a pro-fibrotic factor in the mouse skin. However, endoglin haploinsufficiency does not protect these mice from surgically indiced cartilage degradation, demonstrating differential regulation of endoglin action during skin and cartilage repair.