Dataset Information

Spatial Proliferation of Epithelial Cells Is Regulated by E-Cadherin Force.

ABSTRACT: Cell proliferation and contact inhibition play a major role in maintaining epithelial cell homeostasis. Prior experiments have shown that externally applied forces, such as stretch, result in increased proliferation in an E-cadherin force-dependent manner. In this study, the spatial regulation of cell proliferation in large epithelial colonies was examined. Surprisingly, cells at the center of the colony still had increased proliferation as compared to cells in confluent monolayers. E-cadherin forces were found to be elevated for both cells at the edge and center of these larger colonies when compared to confluent monolayers. To determine if high levels of E-cadherin force were necessary to induce proliferation at the center of the colony, a lower-force mutant of E-cadherin was developed. Cells with lower E-cadherin force had significantly reduced proliferation for cells at the center of the colony but minimal differences for cells at the edges of the colony. Similarly, increasing substrate stiffness was found to increase E-cadherin force and increase the proliferation rate across the colony. Taken together, these results show that forces through cell-cell junctions regulate proliferation across large groups of epithelial cells. In addition, an important finding of this study is that junction forces are dynamic and modulate cellular function even in the absence of externally applied loads.

SUBMITTER: Mohan A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6127877 | biostudies-other | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Spatial Proliferation of Epithelial Cells Is Regulated by E-Cadherin Force.

Mohan Abhinav A Schlue Kyle T KT Kniffin Alex F AF Mayer Carl R CR Duke Ashley A AA Narayanan Vani V Arsenovic Paul T PT Bathula Kranthidhar K Danielsson Brooke E BE Dumbali Sandeep P SP Maruthamuthu Venkat V Conway Daniel E DE

Biophysical journal 20180804 5

Cell proliferation and contact inhibition play a major role in maintaining epithelial cell homeostasis. Prior experiments have shown that externally applied forces, such as stretch, result in increased proliferation in an E-cadherin force-dependent manner. In this study, the spatial regulation of cell proliferation in large epithelial colonies was examined. Surprisingly, cells at the center of the colony still had increased proliferation as compared to cells in confluent monolayers. E-cadherin f ...[more]

PMID: 30131170

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundRenal tubular epithelial cells of proximal and distal origin differ markedly in their physiological functions. Therefore, we hypothesized that they also differ in their capacity to undergo epithelial to mesenchymal alterations.ResultsWe used cultures of freshly isolated primary human tubular cells. To distinguish cells of different tubular origin we took advantage of the fact that human proximal epithelial cells uniquely express N-cadherin instead of E-cadherin as major cell-cell adhesion molecule. To provoke mesenchymal alteration we treated these cocultures with TGF-? for up to 6 days. Within this time period, the morphology of distal tubular cells was barely altered. In contrast to tubular cell lines, E-cadherin was not down-regulated by TGF-?, even though TGF-? signal transduction was initiated as demonstrated by nuclear localization of Smad2/3. Analysis of transcription factors and miRNAs possibly involved in E-cadherin regulation revealed high levels of miRNAs of the miR200-family, which may contribute to the stability of E-cadherin expression in human distal tubular epithelial cells. By contrast, proximal tubular epithelial cells altered their phenotype when treated with TGF-?. They became elongated and formed three-dimensional structures. Rho-kinases were identified as modulators of TGF-?-induced morphological alterations. Non-specific inhibition of Rho-kinases resulted in stabilization of the epithelial phenotype, while partial effects were observed upon downregulation of Rho-kinase isoforms ROCK1 and ROCK2. The distinct reactivity of proximal and distal cells was retained when the cells were cultured as polarized cells.ConclusionsInterference with Rho-kinase signaling provides a target to counteract TGF-?-mediated mesenchymal alterations of epithelial cells, particularly in proximal tubular epithelial cells. Furthermore, primary distal tubular cells differed from cell lines by their high phenotypic stability which included constant expression of E-cadherin. Our cell culture system of primary epithelial cells is thus suitable to understand and modulate cellular remodeling processes of distinct tubular cells relevant for human renal disease.

Dataset Information

Spatial Proliferation of Epithelial Cells Is Regulated by E-Cadherin Force.

Publications

Spatial Proliferation of Epithelial Cells Is Regulated by E-Cadherin Force.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets