Functional analysis of polycomb group gene Ring1B in the self-renewal of hepatic stem cells

polycomb-group （PcG）蛋白是干细胞自我更新能力的关键决定因素，通过转录抑制发育调节基因。在本研究中，为了研究PcG蛋白在维持肝干细胞自我更新能力功能中的作用，我们利用Ring1B条件KO小鼠和DNA微阵列检测了肝干细胞中的Ring1B靶基因。我们证明了Ring1B在肝干细胞中抑制了大约900个基因。Ring1B靶基因集包含多个与细胞周期和凋亡相关的基因。Ring1B可能通过抑制细胞周期基因和凋亡调控基因调控肝干细胞的自我更新能力。

The polycomb-group (PcG) proteins are critical determinant for the self-renewal capacity of the stem cells by transcriptional repression of developmental regulatory genes. In this study, to investigate the role of PcG protein in maintaining the self-renewal capability function in the hepatic stem cells, we examined the Ring1B target gens in hepatic stem cells by using the Ring1B conditional KO mice and DNA microarrays. We demonstrated that Ring1B repressed approximately 900 genes in hepatic stem cell. Ring1B target gene sets contained multiple genes related to cell cycle and apoptosis. Ring1B may regulate the self-renewal capacity of hepatic stem cells by suppressing cell cycle genes and apoptosis regulatory genes.