ACF7 regulates inflammatory colitis and intestinal wound response by orchestrating tight junction dynamics

Nat Commun. 2017 May 25:8:15375. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15375.

Abstract

In the intestinal epithelium, the aberrant regulation of cell/cell junctions leads to intestinal barrier defects, which may promote the onset and enhance the severity of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, it remains unclear how the coordinated behaviour of cytoskeletal network may contribute to cell junctional dynamics. In this report, we identified ACF7, a crosslinker of microtubules and F-actin, as an essential player in this process. Loss of ACF7 leads to aberrant microtubule organization, tight junction stabilization and impaired wound closure in vitro. With the mouse genetics approach, we show that ablation of ACF7 inhibits intestinal wound healing and greatly increases susceptibility to experimental colitis in mice. ACF7 level is also correlated with development and progression of ulcerative colitis (UC) in human patients. Together, our results reveal an important molecular mechanism whereby coordinated cytoskeletal dynamics contributes to cell adhesion regulation during intestinal wound repair and the development of IBD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Caco-2 Cells
  • Cell Adhesion / physiology
  • Colitis / etiology*
  • Colitis / pathology
  • Colitis / physiopathology
  • Colitis, Ulcerative / etiology
  • Colitis, Ulcerative / pathology
  • Colitis, Ulcerative / physiopathology
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / etiology
  • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / pathology
  • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / physiopathology
  • Intestinal Mucosa / pathology
  • Intestinal Mucosa / physiopathology
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Microfilament Proteins / chemistry
  • Microfilament Proteins / deficiency
  • Microfilament Proteins / genetics
  • Microfilament Proteins / physiology*
  • Microtubules / physiology
  • Models, Molecular
  • Tight Junctions / pathology
  • Tight Junctions / physiology
  • Wound Healing / physiology

Substances

  • MACF1 protein, human
  • Macf1 protein, mouse
  • Microfilament Proteins