Abstract
Vascular proliferative disorders, such as atherosclerosis and restenosis, are the most common causes of severe cardiovascular diseases, but a common molecular mechanism remains elusive. Here, we identify and characterize a novel hyperplasia suppressor gene, named HSG (later re-named rat mitofusin-2). HSG expression was markedly reduced in hyper-proliferative vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from spontaneously hypertensive rat arteries, balloon-injured Wistar Kyoto rat arteries, or ApoE-knockout mouse atherosclerotic arteries. Overexpression of HSG overtly suppressed serum-evoked VSMC proliferation in culture, and blocked balloon injury induced neointimal VSMC proliferation and restenosis in rat carotid arteries. The HSG anti-proliferative effect was mediated by inhibition of ERK/MAPK signalling and subsequent cell-cycle arrest. Deletion of the p21ras signature motif, but not the mitochondrial targeting domain, abolished HSG-induced growth arrest, indicating that rHSG-induced anti-proliferation was independent of mitochondrial fusion. Thus, rHSG functions as a cell proliferation suppressor, whereas dysregulation of rHSG results in proliferative disorders.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Basic Research Priorities Program 973 (G1998051015 and G2000056906), China's 863 High-Tech National Research Programme, Chinese Young Investigator Award (30225036), Peking University 985 Project. The authors would like to thank D. Longo, H. Cheng, E.G. Lakatta, P. Morin, X. Fu and J. Chen for critical reading and discussions. We would also like to thank M. Wang and J. Zhang for excellent technical support.
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Chen, KH., Guo, X., Ma, D. et al. Dysregulation of HSG triggers vascular proliferative disorders. Nat Cell Biol 6, 872–883 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1161
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1161
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