Mesothelin promotes cell proliferation in the remodeling of neonatal rat pancreas

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the effect of mesothelin in the remodeling of the endocrine pancreas in neonatal rats. Methods: Overexpression or downregulation of me-sothelin expression in INS-1 cells was carried out to investigate the effect of mesothelin during cell proliferation and cell apoptosis in vitro. Adenovirus-mediated RNA interference was performed to block mesothelin in vivo to directly assess the role of mesothelin in the remodeling of the endocrine pancreas in neonatal rats. Results: Exogenous overexpression of mesothelin promoted cell proliferation, cell colony formation and enhanced cell resistance to apoptosis of INS-1 cells. Down-regulation of mesothelin made no difference in cell proliferation and apoptosis compared with that in the control group. After an injection of adenovirusmesothelin, a significantly increased number of small islets appeared, and the expression of PCNA was decreased on day 7 and day 14 compared with the Ad- EGFP group. Conclusion: Mesothelin was able to promote β cell proliferation in the remodeling stage of neonatal rats. Mesothelin may have an important role in the remodeling of the endocrine pancreas in neonatal rats. © 2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.