Center for Molecular Medicine, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Sci Signal. 2011 Feb 1;4(158):ra6. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.2001249.
The contribution of the Wnt pathway has been extensively characterized in embryogenesis, differentiation, and stem cell biology but not in mammalian metabolism. Here, using in vivo gain- and loss-of-function models, we demonstrate an important role for Wnt signaling in hepatic metabolism. In particular, β-catenin, the downstream mediator of canonical Wnt signaling, altered serum glucose concentrations and regulated hepatic glucose production. β-Catenin also modulated hepatic insulin signaling. Furthermore, β-catenin interacted with the transcription factor FoxO1 in livers from mice under starved conditions. The interaction of FoxO1 with β-catenin regulated the transcriptional activation of the genes encoding glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), the two rate-limiting enzymes in hepatic gluconeogenesis. Moreover, starvation induced the hepatic expression of mRNAs encoding different Wnt isoforms. In addition, nutrient deprivation appeared to favor the association of β-catenin with FoxO family members, rather than with members of the T cell factor of transcriptional activators. Notably, in a model of diet-induced obesity, hepatic deletion of β-catenin improved overall metabolic homeostasis. These observations implicate Wnt signaling in the modulation of hepatic metabolism and raise the possibility that Wnt signaling may play a similar role in the metabolic regulation of other tissues.
Wnt 通路的作用在胚胎发生、分化和干细胞生物学中得到了广泛的研究,但在哺乳动物代谢中尚未得到研究。在这里,我们使用体内增益和缺失功能模型,证明了 Wnt 信号在肝脏代谢中的重要作用。特别是β-连环蛋白,经典 Wnt 信号的下游介质,改变了血清葡萄糖浓度并调节了肝脏葡萄糖生成。β-连环蛋白还调节了肝脏胰岛素信号。此外,β-连环蛋白与饥饿条件下小鼠肝脏中的转录因子 FoxO1 相互作用。FoxO1 与β-连环蛋白的相互作用调节编码葡萄糖-6-磷酸酶(G6Pase)和磷酸烯醇丙酮酸羧激酶(PEPCK)的基因的转录激活,这两种酶是肝脏糖异生的限速酶。此外,饥饿诱导了编码不同 Wnt 同工型的 mRNA 在肝脏中的表达。此外,营养剥夺似乎有利于β-连环蛋白与 FoxO 家族成员而不是转录激活物的 T 细胞因子成员的结合。值得注意的是,在饮食诱导肥胖的模型中,肝脏中β-连环蛋白的缺失改善了整体代谢稳态。这些观察结果表明 Wnt 信号参与了肝脏代谢的调节,并提出了 Wnt 信号可能在其他组织的代谢调节中发挥类似作用的可能性。