REGULATION OF StarD7 EXPRESSION BY LITHIUM

RENA VC; FLORES MARTÍN J; ANGELETTI SOFÍA; PANZETTA DUTARI G; GENTI RAIMONDI S

Villa Carlos Paz, Cordoba. Argentina

Congreso; XLIV Reunion Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion en Bioquimica y Biologia Molecular; 2008

Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion en Bioquimica

StarD7 belongs to the START domain proteins involved in intracellular transport and lipid metabolism. We previously reported that StarD7 promoter activity, as well as endogenous JEG-3 mRNA levels were increased by ß-catenin S33Y overexpression. In addition, an increase in StarD7 mRNA was observed when JEG- 3 cells were cultured in a high glucose medium compared with low glucose one. Here we demonstrate that lithium chloride, an inhibitor of glycogen synthase kinase-3ß, increased the nuclear ßcatenin level, the phosphorylated GSK-3ß amount and StarD7 protein expression in JEG-3. Similar data were obtained when this cell line was cultured in glycemic conditions. These changes were correlated with an increase in the mRNA levels of the inducible oxide nitric synthase. Furthermore, the transcript levels of a list of factors involved in transcriptional control of glucose and lipid metabolism were evaluated. These findings corroborate ours previous results indicating that StarD7 is regulated by Wnt-ßcatenin signaling associated to glucose and lipid metabolism suggesting that StarD7 could fulfill an important role in proliferation, inflammation, and cancer. (Comunicación oral)