Autophagy modulates mesenchymal-to-endothelial transition via p53

Aging (Albany NY). 2020 Nov 13;12(21):22112-22121. doi: 10.18632/aging.104065. Epub 2020 Nov 13.

Abstract

Mesenchymal-to-endothelial transition (MEndT) is one of the mechanisms that influences cardiac fibrosis, which is a key process in cardiac remodeling. It has been reported that autophagy inhibits endothelial cell transition. However, whether autophagy could modulate MEndT in cardiac fibrosis has not yet been investigated. Here, we discussed the association between autophagy and MEndT and its possible mechanism. In this study, we induced endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition using transforming growth factor-β to generate mesenchymal cells and fibroblasts in wild-type human umbilical vein endothelial cells and cells with p53 knockout or overexpression. Then, autophagy was induced by Earle's balanced salt solution (EBSS) and was inhibited by bafilomycin A1 or lentivirus-ATG5-shRNA. The expression levels of MEndT and the autophagy markers CD31, VE-Cadherin, Vimentin, α-SMA, LC3, p62 and p53 were examined. We found that activation of autophagy could promote MEndT and increase cytoplasmic and total expression of p53, that but nuclear p53 expression was decreased, and that inhibition of autophagy activation could reverse the effect of EBSS. Moreover, after knockout of nuclear p53, autophagy promoted MEndT, while autophagy inhibited MEndT in p53 overexpressing cells. Our results demonstrate that autophagy modulate MEndT by nuclear p53 provide a new strategy for the treatment of fibrosis diseases.

Keywords: autophagy; endothelial cells; fibrosis; mesenchymal-to-endothelial transition; p53.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Autophagy* / drug effects
  • Autophagy-Related Protein 5 / genetics
  • Autophagy-Related Protein 5 / metabolism
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition* / drug effects
  • Fibrosis
  • Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells / drug effects
  • Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells / metabolism*
  • Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells / pathology
  • Humans
  • Macrolides / pharmacology
  • Signal Transduction
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta / pharmacology
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / genetics
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / metabolism*

Substances

  • ATG5 protein, human
  • Autophagy-Related Protein 5
  • Macrolides
  • TP53 protein, human
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53
  • bafilomycin A1