1
|
Oropeza D, Cigliola V, Romero A, Chera S, Rodríguez-Seguí SA, Herrera PL. Stage-specific transcriptomic changes in pancreatic α-cells after massive β-cell loss. BMC Genomics 2021; 22:585. [PMID: 34340653 PMCID: PMC8330016 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-07812-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Loss of pancreatic insulin-secreting β-cells due to metabolic or autoimmune damage leads to the development of diabetes. The discovery that α-cells can be efficiently reprogrammed into insulin-secreting cells in mice and humans has opened promising avenues for innovative diabetes therapies. β-cell loss triggers spontaneous reprogramming of only 1–2% of α-cells, limiting the extent of regeneration. Most α-cells are refractory to conversion and their global transcriptomic response to severe β-cell loss as well as the mechanisms opposing their reprogramming into insulin producers are largely unknown. Here, we performed RNA-seq on FAC-sorted α-cells to characterize their global transcriptional responses at different time points after massive β-cell ablation. Results Our results show that α-cells undergo stage-specific transcriptional changes 5- and 15-days post-diphtheria toxin (DT)-mediated β-cell ablation. At 5 days, α-cells transiently upregulate various genes associated with interferon signaling and proliferation, including Interferon Induced Protein with Tetratricopeptide Repeats 3 (Ifit3). Subsequently, at 15 days post β-cell ablation, α-cells undergo a transient downregulation of genes from several pathways including Insulin receptor, mTOR and MET signaling. Conclusions The results presented here pinpoint novel markers discriminating α-cells at different stages after acute β-cell loss, and highlight additional signaling pathways that are modulated in α-cells in this context. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-021-07812-x.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Oropeza
- Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, iGE3 and Centre Facultaire du Diabète, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Valentina Cigliola
- Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, iGE3 and Centre Facultaire du Diabète, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Present address: Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.,Regeneration Next, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27710, USA
| | - Agustín Romero
- Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Simona Chera
- Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, iGE3 and Centre Facultaire du Diabète, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Clinical Science, Center for Diabetes Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Santiago A Rodríguez-Seguí
- Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Pedro L Herrera
- Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, iGE3 and Centre Facultaire du Diabète, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|