“…Competition between stimulating protein 1 and Egr-1 leads to either activation or suppression of common target genes (15,21). Egr-1 is a crucial regulator of cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival after induction by several stimuli such as growth factors, cytokines, radiation, apoptosis-promoting factors, injury, and stretch (4,15,27). Furthermore, depending on the stimulus and cell type, various signal transduction pathways induce Egr-1, including those mediated by the mitogen-activated protein kinases extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, protein kinase C-, Rho GTPase, or p38/c-Jun NH 2 -terminal kinase (8).…”