Inducible expression of Wnt genes during adult hepatic stem/progenitor cell response

Edited by Lukas Huber

Received 24 November 2008; received in revised form 12 January 2009; accepted 16 January 2009. published online 27 January 2009.

Abstract

In injured livers where hepatocyte growth is severely limited, facultative hepatic stem/progenitor cells, termed oval cells in rodents, are known to emerge and contribute to the regeneration process. Here, we investigated a possible involvement of Wnt signaling during mouse oval cell response and found significant upregulation of several Wnt genes including Wnt7a, Wnt7b, and Wnt10a. Accordingly, increase of β-catenin protein was observed in oval cell compartments. Pharmacological activation of the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling induced proliferation of cultured hepatic stem/progenitor cell lines. These results together implicate the role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in adult hepatic stem/progenitor cell response.

Keywords: Liver regeneration, Oval cell, Wnt, β-Catenin

Laboratory of Cell Growth and Differentiation, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan

Corresponding author. Fax: +81 3 5841 8475.

1 Present address: Pharmacology Research Labs., Drug Discovery Research, Astellas Pharma Inc., 21 Miyukigaoka, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8585, Japan.

PII: S0014-5793(09)00055-6

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2009.01.022

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