Matriptase activation of Gq drives epithelial disruption and inflammation via RSK and DUOX

  1. Jiajia Ma
  2. Claire A Scott
  3. Ying Na Ho
  4. Harsha Mahabaleshwar
  5. Katherine S Marsay
  6. Changqing Zhang
  7. Christopher KJ Teow
  8. Ser Sue Ng
  9. Weibin Zhang
  10. Vinay Tergaonkar
  11. Lynda J Partridge
  12. Sudipto Roy
  13. Enrique Amaya
  14. Tom J Carney  Is a corresponding author
  1. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  2. A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), Singapore
  3. Institite of molecular and cell biology, Singapore
  4. University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
  5. University of Manchester, United Kingdom

Abstract

Epithelial tissues are primed to respond to insults by activating epithelial cell motility and rapid inflammation. Such responses are also elicited upon overexpression of the membrane bound protease, Matriptase, or mutation of its inhibitor, Hai1. Unrestricted Matriptase activity also predisposes to carcinoma. How Matriptase leads to these cellular outcomes is unknown. We demonstrate that zebrafish hai1a mutants show increased H2O2, NfkB signalling, and IP3R -mediated calcium flashes, and that these promote inflammation, but do not generate epithelial cell motility. In contrast, inhibition of the Gq subunit in hai1a mutants rescues both the inflammation and epithelial phenotypes, with the latter recapitulated by the DAG analogue, PMA. We demonstrate that hai1a has elevated MAPK pathway activity, inhibition of which rescues the epidermal defects. Finally, we identify RSK kinases as MAPK targets disrupting adherens junctions in hai1a mutants. Our work maps novel signalling cascades mediating the potent effects of Matriptase on epithelia, with implications for tissue damage response and carcinoma progression.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Jiajia Ma

    Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Claire A Scott

    Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Ying Na Ho

    Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Harsha Mahabaleshwar

    Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Katherine S Marsay

    Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Changqing Zhang

    Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Christopher KJ Teow

    Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Ser Sue Ng

    Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Weibin Zhang

    Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Vinay Tergaonkar

    Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics, Institite of molecular and cell biology, Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Lynda J Partridge

    Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Sudipto Roy

    Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), Singapore, Singapore
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  13. Enrique Amaya

    Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  14. Tom J Carney

    Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
    For correspondence
    tcarney@ntu.edu.sg
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2371-1924

Funding

Ministry of Education - Singapore (2015-T1-001-035)

  • Jiajia Ma
  • Tom J Carney

Ministry of Education - Singapore (MOE2016-T3-1-005)

  • Harsha Mahabaleshwar

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: Fish were housed at the IMCB and the NTU zebrafish facilities under IACUC numbers #140924 and #A18002 respectively, and according to the guidelines of the National Advisory Committee for Laboratory Animal Research. Approval was provided by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees of the Biological Resource Centre (IMCB) and NTU according to Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) Rules and the National Advisory Committee for Laboratory Animal Research (NACLAR) requirments.

Copyright

© 2021, Ma et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Jiajia Ma
  2. Claire A Scott
  3. Ying Na Ho
  4. Harsha Mahabaleshwar
  5. Katherine S Marsay
  6. Changqing Zhang
  7. Christopher KJ Teow
  8. Ser Sue Ng
  9. Weibin Zhang
  10. Vinay Tergaonkar
  11. Lynda J Partridge
  12. Sudipto Roy
  13. Enrique Amaya
  14. Tom J Carney
(2021)
Matriptase activation of Gq drives epithelial disruption and inflammation via RSK and DUOX
eLife 10:e66596.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66596

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66596

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