Logo image
Transcriptional coactivation by EHMT2 restricts glucocorticoid-induced insulin resistance in a study with male mice
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Transcriptional coactivation by EHMT2 restricts glucocorticoid-induced insulin resistance in a study with male mice

Rebecca A. Lee, Maggie Chang, Nicholas Yiv, Ariel Tsay, Sharon Tian, Danielle Li, Coralie Poulard, Michael R. Stallcup, Miles A. Pufall and Jen-Chywan Wang
Nature communications, Vol.14(1), 3143
05/30/2023
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38584-5
PMCID: PMC10229547
PMID: 37253782
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38584-5View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

The classical dogma of glucocorticoid-induced insulin resistance is that it is caused by the transcriptional activation of hepatic gluconeogenic and insulin resistance genes by the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Here, we find that glucocorticoids also stimulate the expression of insulin-sensitizing genes, such as Irs2 . The transcriptional coregulator EHMT2 can serve as a transcriptional coactivator or a corepressor. Using male mice that have a defective EHMT2 coactivation function specifically, we show that glucocorticoid-induced Irs2 transcription is dependent on liver EHMT2’s coactivation function and that IRS2 play a key role in mediating the limitation of glucocorticoid-induced insulin resistance by EHMT2’s coactivation. Overall, we propose a model in which glucocorticoid-regulated insulin sensitivity is determined by the balance between glucocorticoid-modulated insulin resistance and insulin sensitizing genes, in which EHMT2 coactivation is specifically involved in the latter process. Glucocorticoids are known to induce insulin resistance via transcriptional activation of genes related to liver gluconeogenesis and insulin resistance. Here the authors report that in male mice treated with glucocorticoids, the transcriptional co-regulator EHMT2 is involved in the induction of Irs2 (a gene promoting insulin action) to restrict the extent of insulin resistance in the liver.
Transcriptional regulatory elements Type 2 diabetes

Details

Metrics

Logo image