Reduced hydration-induced decreased caveolin-1 expression causes epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

Shuai Yang; Jingling Zhao; Shixin Huang; Bin Shu; Ronghua Yang; Lei Chen; Yingbin Xu; Julin Xie; Xusheng Liu; Ji Jia; Shaohai Qi

Reduced hydration-induced decreased caveolin-1 expression causes epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

Am J Transl Res. 2020 Dec 15;12(12):8067-8083. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Shuai Yang¹, Jingling Zhao², Shixin Huang², Bin Shu², Ronghua Yang³, Lei Chen¹, Yingbin Xu¹, Julin Xie², Xusheng Liu², Ji Jia⁴, Shaohai Qi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Burns, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, China.
³ Department of Burn Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Foshan Foshan, China.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, General Hospital of Southern Theatre Command of PLA Guangzhou, China.

PMID: 33437382
PMCID: PMC7791524

Abstract

The reduced hydration environment induced by disruption of epithelial barrier function after injury results in excessive scarring, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We demonstrated that exposing keratinocytes to a reduced hydration environment causes epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and induces caveolin-1-dependent downregulation of E-cadherin. Reduced caveolin-1 expression and increased Snail expression are associated with low expression levels of E-cadherin. Caveolin-1 downregulation increases the transcriptional activity of β-catenin-TCF/LEF-1, and overexpression of caveolin-1 inhibits EMT that results from reduced hydration. Our findings suggest a role for caveolin-1 downregulation in linking aberrant EMT to the reduced hydration environment: findings that may lead to new developments in the prevention and treatment of hypertrophic scar.

Keywords: Caveolin-1; EMT; reduced hydration.