Journal
NATURE
Volume 562, Issue 7725, Pages 128-+Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0522-3
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Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through the Collaborative Research Centres [SFB 974, SFB 1116, IRTG 1902, DFG LA1216/6-1]
- German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD e.V.)
- Federal Ministry of Health
- Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia
- Academy of Finland
- Novo Nordisk Foundation
- Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE)
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Angiocrine signals derived from endothelial cells are an important component of intercellular communication and have a key role in organ growth, regeneration and disease(1-4). These signals have been identified and studied in multiple organs, including the liver, pancreas, lung, heart, bone, bone marrow, central nervous system, retina and some cancers(1-4). Here we use the developing liver as a model organ to study angiocrine signals(5,6), and show that the growth rate of the liver correlates both spatially and temporally with blood perfusion to this organ. By manipulating blood flow through the liver vasculature, we demonstrate that vessel perfusion activates beta 1 integrin and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR3). Notably, both beta 1 integrin and VEGFR3 are strictly required for normal production of hepatocyte growth factor, survival of hepatocytes and liver growth. Ex vivo perfusion of adult mouse liver and in vitro mechanical stretching of human hepatic endothelial cells illustrate that mechanotransduction alone is sufficient to turn on angiocrine signals. When the endothelial cells are mechanically stretched, angiocrine signals trigger in vitro proliferation and survival of primary human hepatocytes. Our findings uncover a signalling pathway in vascular endothelial cells that translates blood perfusion and mechanotransduction into organ growth and maintenance.
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