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Blockade of Jagged/Notch Pathway Abrogates Transforming Growth Factor β2-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells

[ Vol. 14 , Issue. 4 ]

Author(s):

X. Chen, W. Xiao, X. Liu, M. Zeng, L. Luo, M. Wu, S. Ye and Y. Liu   Pages 523 - 534 ( 12 )

Abstract:


The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells plays a key role in proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), which lead to the loss of vision. The Jagged/Notch pathway has been reported to be essential in EMT during embryonic development, fibrotic diseases and cancer metastasis. However, the function of Jagged/Notch signaling in EMT of RPE cells is unknown. Thus, we hypothesized that a crosstalk between Notch and transforming growth factor β2 (TGF-β2) signaling could induce EMT in RPE cells, which subsequently contributes to PVR and PDR. Here, we demonstrate that Jagged-1/Notch pathway is involved in the TGF-β2-mediated EMT of human RPE cells. Blockade of Notch pathway with DAPT (a specific inhibitor of Notch receptor cleavage) and knockdown of Jagged-1 expression inhibited TGF-β2-induced EMT through regulating the expression of Snail, Slug and ZEB1. Besides the canonical Smad signaling pathway, the noncanonical PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathway also contributed to TGF-β2-induced up-regulation of Jagged-1 in RPE cells. Overexpression of Jagged-1 could mimic TGF-β2 induce EMT. Our data suggest that the Jagged-1/Notch signaling pathway plays a critical role in TGF-β2-induced EMT in human RPE cells, and may contribute to the development of PVR and PDR. Inhibition of the Jagged/Notch signaling pathway, therefore, may have therapeutic value in the prevention and treatment of PVR and PDR.

Keywords:

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), Jagged/Notch signaling, proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells.

Affiliation:

, , , , , , , State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.



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