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Objective

Peyronie’s disease (PD) is a sexual debilitating disease caused by an irreversible fibrotic plaque of the penile tunica albuginea (TA). Treatment is limited to surgically restoring anatomical shape. Evidence for reliable medical treatment is lacking. Our study set out to investigate the interplay between the TNFα and TGF-β1 pathways in terms of fibroblast to myofibroblast (MFB) transformation and ECM production in vitro in order elucidate better the pathophysiological pathways involved.

Materials and Methods

Primary cell culture was initiated from surgically obtained TA tissue from PD patients. To confirm fibroblast (FB)-identity cells were stained for Vimentin (Vim) using immunofluorescence (IF). To induce MFB status, cells where stimulated with 3ng/mL TGF-β1 (TBS). Increasing doses of recombinant TNFα where added (0, 1-3 ng/mL). RT-qPCR was utilized to assess mRNA expression of alpha-smooth …