STOMACH

Trefoil factor 1 is required for the commitment programme of mouse oxyntic epithelial progenitors

S M Karam¹, C Tomasetto², M-C Rio²

¹ Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates
² Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), CNRS UMR 7104, INSERM U596,ULP, BP 163, 67404 Illkirch Cedex, CU de Strasbourg, France

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr S M Karam
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al-Ain, PO Box 17666, United Arab Emirates; skaram{at}uaeu.ac.ae

Background: Trefoil factor 1 (TFF1/pS2) is a major secretory product of the stomach and TFF1 knockout mice constantly develop adenomas and occasional carcinomas in the pyloric antrum.

Aim: To analyse the role of TFF1 in the differentiation of gastric epithelial cell lineages using oxyntic mucosae from normal and TFF1 knockout mice.

Methods: The various cell lineages were labelled using specific markers of pit, neck, parietal, and enteroendocrine cells. Patterns of TFF1, TFF2, and TFF3 expressions were defined using western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and/or immunogold electron microscopy.

Results: In normal mice, starting from postnatal day 1 (P1), TFF1 and TFF2 were produced by mucus secreting cells of the developing epithelium. At P7, TFF3 expression occurred in pit and parietal cells. When oxyntic glands were compartmentalised, at P21 and in older mice, TFF1 and TFF2 were expressed in pit and neck cells, respectively, and TFF3 was no longer in parietal cells but became a feature of zymogenic cells. In TFF1 deficient mice, alteration of oxyntic epithelial differentiation became obvious at P21, showing significant amplification of pit cells at the expense of parietal cells. At the molecular level, lack of TFF1 induced dramatic inhibition of TFF2 expression and more precocious TFF3 expression.

Conclusion: In the oxyntic mucosa, all three TFFs are produced in a lineage specific manner and TFF1 is essential in maintaining the normal commitment programme of epithelial progenitors.

Abbreviations: TFF, trefoil factor; EM, electron microscopy; BrdU, 5-bromo-2'’-deoxyuridine; P, postnatal day; UEA, Ulex europaeus agglutinin; GSII, Grifforia simplifolica II

Keywords: gastric gland; trefoil factor; stem cell; cell differentiation; parietal cell

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Capoccia, B. J., Huh, W. J., Mills, J. C. (2009). How form follows functional genomics: gene expression profiling gastric epithelial cells with a particular discourse on the parietal cell. Physiol. Genomics 37: 67-78 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Madsen, J., Nielsen, O., Tornoe, I., Thim, L., Holmskov, U. (2007). Tissue Localization of Human Trefoil Factors 1, 2, and 3. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 55: 505-513 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kouznetsova, I., Chwieralski, C. E., Balder, R., Hinz, M., Braun, A., Krug, N., Hoffmann, W. (2007). Induced Trefoil Factor Family 1 Expression by Trans-Differentiating Clara Cells in a Murine Asthma Model. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Bio. 36: 286-295 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• LeSimple, P., van Seuningen, I., Buisine, M.-P., Copin, M.-C., Hinz, M., Hoffmann, W., Hajj, R., Brody, S. L., Coraux, C., Puchelle, E. (2007). Trefoil Factor Family 3 Peptide Promotes Human Airway Epithelial Ciliated Cell Differentiation. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Bio. 36: 296-303 [Abstract] [Full Text]