Aim: To investigate the effect of mesothelin in the remodeling of the endocrine pancreas in neonatal rats.
Methods: Overexpression or downregulation of mesothelin expression in INS-1 cells was carried out to investigate the effect of mesothelin during cell proliferation and cell apoptosis in vitro. Adenovirus-mediated RNA interference was performed to block mesothelin in vivo to directly assess the role of mesothelin in the remodeling of the endocrine pancreas in neonatal rats.
Results: Exogenous overexpression of mesothelin promoted cell proliferation, cell colony formation and enhanced cell resistance to apoptosis of INS-1 cells. Down-regulation of mesothelin made no difference in cell proliferation and apoptosis compared with that in the control group. After an injection of adenovirus-mesothelin, a significantly increased number of small islets appeared, and the expression of PCNA was decreased on day 7 and day 14 compared with the Ad-EGFP group.
Conclusion: Mesothelin was able to promote β cell proliferation in the remodeling stage of neonatal rats. Mesothelin may have an important role in the remodeling of the endocrine pancreas in neonatal rats.
Keywords: Cell proliferation; Mesothelin; Pancreatic development; Pancreatic remodeling; Small islets.