RHO-Associated Coiled-Coil-Containing Protein Kinase Inhibitors Significantly Modulate the Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition Induced by TGF-β2 in the 2-D and 3-D Cultures of Human Corneal Stroma Fibroblasts

The findings presented herein suggest the following: (1) the epithelial-mesenchymal transition could be spontaneously evoked in the three-dimensional human corneal stroma fibroblast spheroid, and, therefore, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition induced by transforming growth factor beta2 could differ between two-dimensional and three-dimensional cultured HCSF cells; and (2) the inhibition of ROCK1 and 2 significantly modulates the transforming growth factor beta2-induced an epithelial-mesenchymal transition in both two-dimensionally and three-dimensionally cultured human corneal stroma fibroblasts, albeit in a different manner.