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The Swell1-LRRC8 Complex Regulates Endothelial PI3K-AKT2-GRB2-eNOS Signaling and Vascular Function
Abstract   Peer reviewed

The Swell1-LRRC8 Complex Regulates Endothelial PI3K-AKT2-GRB2-eNOS Signaling and Vascular Function

Ahmad F Alghanem, Chau Ta, Oluwaseun Adeola, Susheel K Gunasekar, Urooj Fatima, Elliot-Hudson Elliot-Hudson, Yanhui Zhang, Megan Riker, Robert F Mullins, Litao Xie, …
Biophysical journal, Vol.116(3), pp.376a-376a
02/15/2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2018.11.2043

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Abstract

The endothelium responds to various chemical and mechanical factors in regulating vascular tone, blood pressure and blood flow. The endothelial volume regulatory anion channel (VRAC) has been proposed to be mechano-sensitive, to activate in response to fluid flow/hydrostatic pressure and putatively regulate vascular reactivity. Here we show that the Leucine Rich Repeat Containing Protein 8a, LRRC8a (SWELL1) functionally encodes VRAC in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). shRNA-mediated SWELL1 knock-down impairs insulin and stretch-induced PI3K-AKT2-eNOS signaling. Endothelial SWELL1 interacts with GRB2-Cav1-eNOS. Both GRB2 knock-down and SWELL1 overexpression augment insulin-induced PI3K-AKT2-eNOS signaling in HUVECs. Consistent with SWELL1-dependent PI3K-AKT2-eNOS signaling in endothelium, endothelial-restricted SWELL1 KO mice (eSWELL1 KO) are mildly hypertensive, and exhibit mildly impaired retinal blood flow with both diffuse and focal blood vessel narrowing compared to littermate controls when raised on a regular chow diet. This reduction in retinal blood flow, reduced blood vessel size and extent of focal vessel narrowing is further exacerbated in the setting of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) when eSWELL1 KO mice are raised on a high-fat, high-sucrose diet. These data demonstrate that SWELL1 regulates PI3K-AKT2-GRB2-eNOS signaling in endothelium and is required for maintaining vascular function, particularly in the setting of T2D.

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