Control of tissue homeostasis, tumorigenesis, and degeneration by coupled bidirectional bistable switches

PLoS Comput Biol. 2021 Nov 19;17(11):e1009606. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009606. eCollection 2021 Nov.

Abstract

The Hippo-YAP/TAZ signaling pathway plays a critical role in tissue homeostasis, tumorigenesis, and degeneration disorders. The regulation of YAP/TAZ levels is controlled by a complex regulatory network, where several feedback loops have been identified. However, it remains elusive how these feedback loops contain the YAP/TAZ levels and maintain the system in a healthy physiological state or trap the system in pathological conditions. Here, a mathematical model was developed to represent the YAP/TAZ regulatory network. Through theoretical analyses, three distinct states that designate the one physiological and two pathological outcomes were found. The transition from the physiological state to the two pathological states is mechanistically controlled by coupled bidirectional bistable switches, which are robust to parametric variation and stochastic fluctuations at the molecular level. This work provides a mechanistic understanding of the regulation and dysregulation of YAP/TAZ levels in tissue state transitions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carcinogenesis
  • Homeostasis*
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Neoplasms / pathology

Grants and funding

This project was supported by the Startup Fund to X-JT from ASU School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering and NSF grant (no. EF-1921412 to X-JT). DBA was also supported by MORE program at ASU, and JRMA was also supported by the Arizona State University Dean’s Fellowship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.