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Regulation of expression of -smooth muscle actin in cells of Dupuytren’s contracture

¹ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
² Department of Orthopaedics, Nantong Medical College, Jiangsu, China.
³ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, 15 Parkman Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.

Correspondence should be sent to Dr M. Spector.

Our aims were to describe the distribution of -smooth muscle actin (SMA)-containing cells in Dupuytren’s tissue in vivo and to determine the effects of selected agents in regulating the expression of SMA in Dupuytren’s cells in vitro.

In selected hypercellular zones of Dupuytren’s nodules up to 40% of the cells contained SMA, as shown by immunohistochemistry. A lower percentage (20%) of SMA-containing cells was found in regions of lower cellularity. A notable finding was that treatment in vitro of Dupuytren’s cells with platelet-derived growth factor significantly reduced the content of SMA. Cells from the same patients showed a significant increase in expression of SMA in response to treatment with transforming growth factor, which confirmed recent findings. In addition, interferon-, which has been previously used as a treatment for Dupuytren’s disease in a clinical study, had no reproducible effect on the expression of this actin isoform. Our findings are of significance for the conservative management of contractures.