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  2. PXR triggers YAP-TEAD binding and Sirt2-driven YAP deacetylation and polyubiquitination to promote liver enlargement and regeneration in mice

PXR triggers YAP-TEAD binding and Sirt2-driven YAP deacetylation and polyubiquitination to promote liver enlargement and regeneration in mice

  • Pharmacol Res. 2023 Jan 16;188:106666. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2023.106666.
Shuaishuai Zhang 1 Manlan Guo 1 Xiaowen Jiang 1 Lan Tang 1 Ting Wu 1 Guofang Bi 1 Xiao Yang 1 Shicheng Fan 1 Huichang Bi 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Drug Metabolism & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
  • 2 NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Drug Metabolism & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. Electronic address: bihchang@smu.edu.cn.
Abstract

Pregnane X receptor (PXR) plays an important role in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis. Yes-associated protein (YAP) is a critical regulator of liver size and liver regeneration. Recently, we reported that PXR-induced liver enlargement and regeneration depend on YAP signalling, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to reveal how PXR regulates or interacts with YAP signalling during PXR-induced hepatomegaly and liver regeneration. Immunoprecipitation (IP), Co-IP and GST pull-down assays were performed in vitro to reveal the regulatory mechanisms involved in the PXR-YAP interaction. The roles of YAP-TEAD binding and Sirt2-driven deacetylation and polyubiquitination of YAP were further investigated in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of PXR and the WW domain of YAP were critical for the PXR-YAP interaction. Furthermore, disruption of the YAP-TEAD interaction using the binding inhibitor verteporfin significantly decreased PXR-induced liver enlargement and regeneration after 70 % partial hepatectomy (PHx). Mechanistically, PXR activation significantly decreased YAP acetylation, which was interrupted by the Sirtuin Inhibitor nicotinamide (NAM). In addition, p300-induced YAP acetylation contributed to K48-linked YAP ubiquitination. Interestingly, PXR activation remarkably inhibited K48-linked YAP ubiquitination while inducing K63-linked YAP polyubiquitination. SIRT2 interference abolished the deacetylation and K63-linked polyubiquitination of YAP, suggesting that the PXR-induced deacetylation and polyubiquitination of YAP are SIRT2 dependent. Taken together, this study demonstrates that PXR induce liver enlargement and regeneration via the regulation of YAP acetylation and ubiquitination and YAP-TEAD binding, providing evidences for using PXR as potential target to promote hepatic development and liver repair.

Keywords

Acetylation; Liver regeneration; Pregnane X receptor; Sirtuin; Ubiquitination; Yes-associated protein.

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