The effects of caveolin1 on beta cell proliferation

摘要

Our study aims to access the influence of caveolin1 (CAV1) on beta cell expression profiles. We knocked down the expression of CAV1 in both NIT-1 cells and islets isolated from C57BL/6J mice using an RNA interference technique, which was realized by the transfer of an shRNA vector targeting CAV1 mRNA into NIT-1 cells or islets through latent virus infection. First, we identified the change in gene expression profiles in islets, in which the CAV1 expression level was down-regulated, as ascertained by mouse gene expression microarray, and the results showed that pathways related to beta cell proliferation and pancreatic secretion functions were significantly influenced. The results of MTT demonstrated that the knockdown of CAV1 expression in NIT-1 cells promoted proliferation. The protein array results showed that pro-apoptotic cytokines were down-regulated in the NIT-1 cell line with CAV1 knockdown. These findings suggest that CAV1 might be involved in apoptosis and proliferation regulation in beta cells, and therefore could be a potential target for the development of novel therapies for diabetes mellitus.