1Unité de Signalisation Moléculaire et Activation Cellulaire, URA 2582 CNRS, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
FASEB J. 2014 Feb;28(2):603-14. doi: 10.1096/fj.13-235903. Epub 2013 Oct 21.
The Notch signaling pathway is involved in liver development and regeneration. Here, we investigate the role of the 4 mammalian Notch paralogs in the regulation of hepatoblast proliferation and hepatocytic differentiation. Our model is based on bipotential mouse embryonic liver (BMEL) progenitors that can differentiate into hepatocytes or cholangiocytes in vitro and in vivo. BMEL cells were subjected to Notch antagonists or agonists. Blocking Notch activation with a γ-secretase inhibitor, at 50 μM for 48 h, reduced cell growth by 50%. S-phase entry was impaired, but no apoptosis was induced. A systematic paralog-specific strategy was set using lentiviral transduction with constitutively active forms of each Notch receptor along with inhibition of endogenous Notch signaling. This assay demonstrates that proliferation of BMEL cells requires Notch2 and Notch4 activity, resulting in significant down-regulation of p27(Kip1) and p57(Kip2) cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors. Conversely, Notch3-expressing cells proliferate less and express 3-fold higher levels of p57(Kip2). The Notch3 cells present a hepatocyte-like morphology, enhanced multinucleation, and a ploidy shift. Moreover, Notch3 activity is conducive to hepatocytic differentiation in vitro, while its paralogs impede this fate. Our study provides the first evidence of a functional diversity among the mammalian Notch homologues in the proliferation and hepatocytic-lineage commitment of liver progenitors.
Notch 信号通路参与肝脏发育和再生。在这里,我们研究了 4 种哺乳动物 Notch 同源物在调节肝母细胞增殖和肝细胞分化中的作用。我们的模型基于具有双向潜能的小鼠胚胎肝(BMEL)祖细胞,这些细胞可以在体外和体内分化为肝细胞或胆管细胞。BMEL 细胞被 Notch 拮抗剂或激动剂处理。用 γ-分泌酶抑制剂阻断 Notch 激活(50μM,48 小时)可使细胞生长减少 50%。S 期进入受到损害,但没有诱导细胞凋亡。通过使用携带每个 Notch 受体的组成性激活形式的慢病毒转导,并抑制内源性 Notch 信号,我们制定了一种系统的、特定同源物的策略。该测定表明,BMEL 细胞的增殖需要 Notch2 和 Notch4 活性,导致细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶抑制剂 p27(Kip1)和 p57(Kip2)的显著下调。相反,表达 Notch3 的细胞增殖较少,p57(Kip2)的表达水平高出 3 倍。Notch3 细胞呈现出肝细胞样形态,增强多核化,并出现倍性转移。此外,Notch3 活性有利于体外的肝细胞分化,而其同源物则阻碍这种命运。我们的研究首次提供了哺乳动物 Notch 同源物在肝脏祖细胞增殖和肝谱系决定中的功能多样性的证据。