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Inducible expression of Wnt genes during adult hepatic stem/progenitor cell response
Author(s) -
Itoh Tohru,
Kamiya Yoshiko,
Okabe Mayuko,
Tanaka Minoru,
Miyajima Atsushi
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2009.01.022
Subject(s) - wnt signaling pathway , progenitor cell , microbiology and biotechnology , stem cell , biology , progenitor , signal transduction
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.