Elsevier

Molecular Metabolism

Volume 11, May 2018, Pages 212-217
Molecular Metabolism

Brief Communication
Overexpression of ST5, an activator of Ras, has no effect on β-cell proliferation in adult mice

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2018.03.009Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Hypothesized that overexpression of ST5 would drive adult β-cell proliferation due to its role in activating MAPK/ERK.

  • Generated a doxycycline-inducible bitransgenic mouse model to activate β-cell-specific expression of ST5.

  • ST5 overexpression has no mitogenic effect on adult β-cellsunder basal and metabolically challenged states.

Abstract

Objective

Both Type I and Type II diabetes mellitus result from insufficient functional β-cell mass. Efforts to increase β-cell proliferation as a means to restore β-cell mass have been met with limited success. Suppression of Tumorigenicity 5 (ST5) activates Ras/Erk signaling in the presence of Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF). In the pancreatic islet, Ras/Erk signaling is required for augmented β-cell proliferation during pregnancy, suggesting that ST5 is an appealing candidate to enhance adult β-cell proliferation. We aimed to test the hypothesis that overexpression of ST5 drives adult β-cell proliferation.

Methods

We utilized a doxycycline-inducible bitransgenic mouse model to activate β-cell-specific expression of human ST5 in adult mice at will. Islet morphology, β-cell proliferation, and β-cell mass in control and ST5-overexpressing (ST5 OE) animals were analyzed by immunofluorescent staining, under basal and two stimulated metabolic states: pregnancy and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced β-cell loss.

Results

Doxycycline treatment resulted in robust ST5 overexpression in islets from 12-16 week-old ST5 OE animals compared to controls, without affecting the islet morphology and identity of the β-cells. Under both basal and metabolically stimulated pregnancy states, β-cell proliferation and mass were comparable in ST5 OE and control animals. Furthermore, there was no detectable difference in β-cell proliferation between ST5 OE and control animals in response to STZ-induced β-cell loss.

Conclusions

We successfully derived an inducible bitransgenic mouse model to overexpress ST5 specifically in β-cells. However, our findings demonstrate that ST5 overexpression by itself has no mitogenic effect on the adult β-cell under basal and metabolically challenged states.

Keywords

Diabetes
β-cell proliferation
ST5 (Suppression Of Tumorigenicity 5)
Ras/ERK signaling

Abbreviations

ST5
Suppression of Tumorigenicity 5
GEF
Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor
ST5 OE
ST5-overexpressing
STZ
streptozotocin
MODY
Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young
EGF
Epidermal Growth Factor
pERK
phosphorylated ERK
PDGF
Platelet-Derived Growth Factor
TRE
Tetracycline Response Element
RIP
Rat Insulin Promoter
rtTA
reverse tetracycline-controlled transactivator

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