title: Role of glycogen synthase kinase 3 in squamous differentiation of pig airway epithelial cells: A primary study.
abstract: To investigate if glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) is involved in squamous differentiation of airway (tracheobronchial) epithelial cells, primary pig airway epithelial cells were treated with lithium chloride, a highly selective inhibitor of GSK3. Change in morphology of cells was monitored under microscopy, and expression of beta-catenin, phosphorylated GSK3 and involucrin, a squamous differentiation marker, were dectected by Western blotting, while expression of mRNA of another squamous differentiation marker, small proline-rich protein, was detected by RT-PCR. Further, luciferase reporter assay was used to assess the activation of beta-catenin/Tcf signaling. The results demonstrated that lithium was able to induce a squamous morphology of the cells, and to enhance the expression of involucrin and small proline-rich protein mRNA. Moreover, lithium increased inhibitory phosphorylation of GSK3, augmented nuclear translocation of beta-catenin in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Activation of beta-catenin/Tcf signaling was observed after the elevation of squamous differentiation markers. Taken together, these data suggest that GSK3 is possibly involved in squamous differentiation of pig airway epithelial cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology;Pulmonary Disease Laboratory, the Ministry of Health of China, Wuhan 430030, China;E-mail: renliangwu@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Wen-Shu
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ren-Liang
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang