Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, China Medical University, 117 North Nanjing Street, Shenyang, 110001, People's Republic of China.
J Physiol Biochem. 2013 Dec;69(4):855-63. doi: 10.1007/s13105-013-0262-7. Epub 2013 May 28.
Cleft palate is one of the most common birth defects. Both environmental and genetic factors are involved in this disorder. Here, we investigated the function of Wnt10a in proliferation and apoptosis of mouse embryonic palatal mesenchymal (MEPM) cells. Expression of Wnt10a was down-regulated at both the mRNA and protein levels in transfected MEPM cells containing Wnt10a-specific small hairpin RNA (shRNA) plasmid. Down-regulation of Wnt10a inhibited cell proliferation and induced cell cycle arrest in the S phase in MEPM cells. Moreover, apoptosis was significantly increased in MEPM cells of Wnt10a gene silencing. Finally, the expression of β-catenin was markedly reduced in MEPM cells transfected with shRNA plasmid, indicating that the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was involved in the alterations of cell proliferation and apoptosis induced by Wnt10a knockdown. Thus, our findings reveal that Wnt10a regulates proliferation and apoptosis of MEPM cells at least partially through the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.
腭裂是最常见的出生缺陷之一。这种疾病既涉及环境因素，也涉及遗传因素。在这里，我们研究了 Wnt10a 在小鼠胚胎腭中胚层细胞（MEPM）增殖和凋亡中的功能。含有 Wnt10a 特异性短发夹 RNA（shRNA）质粒的转染 MEPM 细胞中，Wnt10a 的 mRNA 和蛋白水平表达均下调。下调 Wnt10a 抑制 MEPM 细胞的增殖，并诱导细胞周期在 S 期停滞。此外，Wnt10a 基因沉默的 MEPM 细胞中，细胞凋亡明显增加。最后，shRNA 质粒转染的 MEPM 细胞中 β-连环蛋白的表达明显降低，表明经典 Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路参与了 Wnt10a 敲低诱导的细胞增殖和凋亡改变。因此，我们的研究结果表明，Wnt10a 通过经典 Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路至少部分调节 MEPM 细胞的增殖和凋亡。
