Abstract
The Hippo-Yap (Yes-associated protein) signaling pathway has emerged as one of the critical pathways regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis in response to environmental and developmental cues. However, Yap1 roles in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) biology have not been investigated. VSMCs undergo phenotypic switch, a process characterized by decreased gene expression of VSMC contractile markers and increased proliferation, migration, and matrix synthesis. The goals of the present studies were to investigate the relationship between Yap1 and VSMC phenotypic switch and to determine the molecular mechanisms by which Yap1 affects this essential process in VSMC biology. Results demonstrated that the expression of Yap1 was rapidly up-regulated by stimulation with PDGF-BB (a known inducer of phenotypic switch in VSMCs) and in the injured vessel wall. Knockdown of Yap1 impaired VSMC proliferation in vitro and enhanced the expression of VSMC contractile genes as well by increasing serum response factor binding to CArG-containing regions of VSMC-specific contractile genes within intact chromatin. Conversely, the interaction between serum response factor and its co-activator myocardin was reduced by overexpression of Yap1 in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, these results indicate that down-regulation of Yap1 promotes VSMC contractile phenotype by both up-regulating myocardin expression and promoting the association of the serum response factor-myocardin complex with VSMC contractile gene promoters and suggest that the Yap1 signaling pathway is a central regulator of phenotypic switch of VSMCs.
Highlights
The Hippo-Yap signaling pathway is one of the critical pathways regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis
These results indicate that down-regulation of Yap1 promotes vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) contractile phenotype by both up-regulating myocardin expression and promoting the association of the serum response factor-myocardin complex with VSMC contractile gene promoters and suggest that the Yap1 signaling pathway is a central regulator of phenotypic switch of VSMCs
Yap1 expression correlated with down-regulation in either the mRNA or protein levels of VSMC-specific genes associated with a contractile phenotype and enhanced pro-proliferation gene expression (Fig. 1, A and B), which is consistent with the effects of PDGF-BB on VSMC phenotypic switch and proliferation [1, 4]
Summary
The Hippo-Yap signaling pathway is one of the critical pathways regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) within the vessels retain remarkable plasticity and are characterized in part by their ability to modulate their phenotypes in response to the environmental stimuli through a process characterized by decreased gene expression of VSMC contractile markers and increased proliferation, migration, and matrix synthesis [1]. The switch between the contractile and synthetic VSMC phenotypes is tightly controlled through a synergistic and coordinated molecular regulatory network [3,4,5,6,7,8] Within these molecules, serum response factor (SRF), a ubiquitously expressed transcription factor that executes multiple functions through binding to evolutionarily conserved cis-elements, the CArG box (CC(A/T)6GG), plays a central role [9, 10]. This study provides new insights into the mechanisms controlling phenotypic switch of VSMC and identifies a new potential therapeutic target for ameliorating VSMC-related diseases and a potential tool for accelerating viable approaches to vascular engineering
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