Epithelium-specific adenoviral transfer of a dominant-negative mutant TGF-β type II receptor stimulates embryonic lung branching morphogenesis in culture and potentiates EGF and PDGF-AA

Although exogenous transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is known to inhibit branching morphogenesis in mouse embryonic lungs in culture, whether the principal negative function of endogenous TGF-beta signaling resides in lung epithelium or mesenchyme remains unresolved. A recombinant adenovirus was constructed, containing a mutated human TGF-beta type II receptor with a truncated cytoplasmic kinase domain. We examined whether this …