Dataset Information

The Circadian Clock Controls Hepatic Stellate Cell Activation in Liver Fibrosis via a BMAL1/CK1ε/REV-ERBα/Transgelin Signaling Pathway.

ABSTRACT: Liver fibrosis is a progressive and life-threatening condition with no effective targeted treatments. Growing evidence indicates a two-way relationship between circadian rhythm and fibrogenesis, although the specific molecular signaling pathways involved are still not well understood. The molecular clock, which governs circadian rhythms, regulates metabolic and cellular functions, and its pharmacological manipulation has shown potential as a therapy for organ fibrosis. Although the liver's molecular clock appeared resilient to the progression of chronic liver disease in humans from steatosis to fibrosis, detectable changes in the daily amplitude of clock genes were observed in a cohort of people living with obesity. We discovered a clock-controlled signaling pathway that drives hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation, a key event in fibrosis progression. Interfering with this pathway, either by disrupting the core regulator CLOCK:BMAL1 or activating the nuclear receptors REV-ERBs, significantly reduced HSC activation. We also identified transgelin as the downstream effector of clock-regulated HSC contractility, a characteristic of HSC activation. Transgelin is regulated indirectly by a BMAL1-CK1ε signaling pathway and directly by REV-ERBα. Our findings identify a previously unknown circadian-controlled mechanism that links the molecular clock to HSC activation and cell contractile function, which is relevant to human diseases. This pathway provides several entry points for drugs to target and disrupt fibrogenic signaling. By connecting clock biology to the cellular processes that cause fibrosis, our work also offers a mechanistic basis for chronotherapeutic strategies against chronic liver disease.

INSTRUMENT(S):

ORGANISM(S): Mus Musculus (mouse)

TISSUE(S): Fibroblast

SUBMITTER: Didier Vertommen

LAB HEAD: Philippe Lefebvre

PROVIDER: PXD068822 | Pride | 2026-07-22

REPOSITORIES: Pride

ACCESS DATA

Dataset's files

Source:

Items per page:

1 - 5 of 22

Similar Datasets

Project description:Circadian clocks are cell autonomous timekeeping mechanisms that govern critical biological processes. Regarding the heart, the cardiomyocyte circadian clock regulates a diverse array of processes, ranging from transcription and translation, to signaling, metabolism, electrophysiology, and contractility. The importance of this mechanism is underscored by observations that genetic disruption of the cardiomyocyte circadian clock in murine models leads to adverse cardiac remodeling, heart failure, and reduced lifespan. However, the precise molecular links between the cardiomyocyte circadian clock and cardiac physiology/pathology have not been characterized fully. Given that recent studies have highlighted that small RNA species (such as miRNAs) influence both cardiac physiology and pathology, we sought to determine the extent to which cardiomyocyte circadian clock disruption impacts cardiac small RNA species. Accordingly, hearts were collected from cardiomyocyte-specific Bmal1 knockout (CBK) and littermate control (CON) mice at distinct times of the day. Small RNA-seq revealed 47 differentially expressed miRNA species in CBK hearts (in the absence of significant time-of-day-dependent effects). Subsequent bioinformatic analyses predicted that differentially expressed miRNA species in CBK hearts potentially influence processes such as circadian rhythmicity, cellular signaling, and metabolism. Of the induced miRNAs in CBK hearts, 7 were predicted to be targeted by the transcriptional repressors REV-ERB/ (integral circadian clock components that are directly regulated by BMAL1). Similar to CBK hearts, cardiomyocyte-specific Rev-erb/ double knockout (CM-RevDKO) mouse hearts exhibited increased let-7c-1-3p, miR-23b-5p, miR-139-3p, miR-5123, and miR-7068-3p levels. Importantly, 19 putative targets of these 5 miRNAs were commonly repressed in both CBK and CM-RevDKO heart (of which 16 are targeted by let-7c-1-3p). These observations suggest that disruption of the BMAL1–REV-ERB/ axis in the heart leads to induction of a subset of miRNAs, whose predicted mRNA targets have established functions in biological processes such as metabolism and cellular signaling.

			Action	DRS
	EXT469_E_E.mzML	Mzml
	EXT469_E_E.mzid	Mzid
	EXT469_E_E1.raw	Raw
	EXT469_E_E2.raw	Raw
	EXT469_E_E3.raw	Raw

Dataset Information

The Circadian Clock Controls Hepatic Stellate Cell Activation in Liver Fibrosis via a BMAL1/CK1ε/REV-ERBα/Transgelin Signaling Pathway.

Dataset's files

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets