Dept. Cell Chemical Biology, Leiden University Medical Center; Oncode Institute, Leiden University Medical Center.
Dept. Cell Chemical Biology, Leiden University Medical Center.
J Vis Exp. 2021 Feb 26(168). doi: 10.3791/62198.
In response to specific external cues and the activation of certain transcription factors, endothelial cells can differentiate into a mesenchymal-like phenotype, a process that is termed endothelial to mesenchymal transition (EndMT). Emerging results have suggested that EndMT is causally linked to multiple human diseases, such as fibrosis and cancer. In addition, endothelial-derived mesenchymal cells may be applied in tissue regeneration procedures, as they can be further differentiated into various cell types (e.g., osteoblasts and chondrocytes). Thus, the selective manipulation of EndMT may have clinical potential. Like epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), EndMT can be strongly induced by the secreted cytokine transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), which stimulates the expression of so-called EndMT transcription factors (EndMT-TFs), including Snail and Slug. These EndMT-TFs then up- and downregulate the levels of mesenchymal and endothelial proteins, respectively. Here, we describe methods to investigate TGF-β-induced EndMT in vitro, including a protocol to study the role of particular TFs in TGF-β-induced EndMT. Using these techniques, we provide evidence that TGF-β2 stimulates EndMT in murine pancreatic microvascular endothelial cells (MS-1 cells), and that the genetic depletion of Snail using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9)-mediated gene editing, abrogates this phenomenon. This approach may serve as a model to interrogate potential modulators of endothelial biology, and can be used to perform genetic or pharmacological screens in order to identify novel regulators of EndMT, with potential application in human disease.
针对特定的外部线索和某些转录因子的激活,内皮细胞可以分化为间充质样表型,这个过程被称为内皮细胞向间充质转化(EndMT)。新出现的结果表明,EndMT 与多种人类疾病(如纤维化和癌症)有因果关系。此外,内皮细胞衍生的间充质细胞可应用于组织再生程序,因为它们可以进一步分化为各种细胞类型(例如成骨细胞和软骨细胞)。因此,选择性地操纵 EndMT 可能具有临床潜力。与上皮细胞向间充质转化(EMT)一样,EndMT 可被分泌的细胞因子转化生长因子-β(TGF-β)强烈诱导,TGF-β刺激所谓的 EndMT 转录因子(EndMT-TFs)的表达,包括 Snail 和 Slug。这些 EndMT-TFs 分别上调和下调间充质和内皮蛋白的水平。在这里,我们描述了体外研究 TGF-β诱导的 EndMT 的方法,包括研究特定 TF 在 TGF-β诱导的 EndMT 中的作用的方案。使用这些技术,我们提供了证据表明 TGF-β2 刺激了小鼠胰腺微血管内皮细胞(MS-1 细胞)中的 EndMT,并且使用 CRISPR/Cas9 介导的基因编辑对 Snail 进行基因敲除,消除了这种现象。这种方法可以作为研究内皮生物学潜在调节剂的模型,并且可以用于进行遗传或药理学筛选,以鉴定 EndMT 的新调节剂,这可能在人类疾病中具有应用价值。