New Study Finds Importance of YAP1 in Liver Development
January 15, 2022
Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition chief Andrew Feranchak, MD, was a coauthor on a new multidisciplinary study from collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC that investigated the role of the YES-associated protein 1 (YAP1) in liver development.
The study was published in July in the journal Cell Reports under the title “Compensatory Hepatic Adaptation Accompanies Permanent Absence of Intrahepatic Biliary Network Due to YAP1 Loss in Liver Progenitors.”
While the YAP1 protein in prior research has been shown to play an important role in cell plasticity in the setting of hepatic injury, hepatic regenerative processes, and liver cancer, little has been understood about its potential role in how the liver develops.
Findings from the new study uncovered a role for YAP1 in regulating bile duct development during liver formation, and the research team also found that hepatoblasts upregulate YAP1 expression during the process of liver development. Furthermore, with the YAP1 protein knocked out in their mouse model, even though the animals exhibited severe forms of liver disease, they continued to survive for long periods of time through alterations and changes in metabolic pathways and how bile acid is transported.
Reference
Molina LM, Zhu J, Li Q, Pradhan-Sundd T, Krutsenko Y, Sayed K, Jenkins N, Vats R, Bhushan B, Ko S, Hu S, Poddar M, Singh S, Tao J, Sundd P, Singhi A, Watkins S, Ma X, Benos PV, Feranchak A, Michalopoulos G, Nejak-Bowen K, Watson A, Bell A, Monga SP. Compensatory Hepatic Adaptation Accompanies Permanent Absence of Intrahepatic Biliary Network Due to YAP1 Loss in Liver Progenitors. Cell Rep. 2021. 36(1): 109310.
