Mt. Chin et al., Induction of high mobility group I architectural transcription factors in proliferating vascular smooth muscle in vivo and in vitro, J MOL CEL C, 31(12), 1999, pp. 2199-2205
Proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) is a hallmark of arte
riosclerosis. Architectural transcription factors of the high mobility grou
p (HMG)-I family have been implicated in the control of cell proliferation
and gene expression. We studied the pattern of HMG-I mRNA and protein expre
ssion in proliferating VSMCs. HMG-I(Y) and HMGI-C mRNAs were barely detecta
ble by Northern analysis in samples prepared from uninjured rat carotid art
eries. In contrast, these mRNAs were induced dramatically in carotid arteri
es 2 and 5-6 days after balloon injury. By in situ hybridization at 6 days
after injury, the induced mRNAs localized to smooth muscle cells of the dev
eloping neointima, and immunocytochemical analysis showed that HMG-I(Y) pro
tein was expressed in the nuclei of these cells. To confirm this associatio
n between HMG-I protein induction and cell growth, we assessed HMG-I(Y) and
HMGI-C mRNA expression in rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMCs) in prima
ry culture. The HMG-I mRNAs were barely detectable in quiescent RASMCs but
were induced markedly by serum stimulation. This induction of mRNA by serum
was time dependent and peaked at 9 h, Western blot analysis confirmed that
HMG-I(Y) protein induction also occurred in vitro. To our knowledge, this
is the first demonstration of induction of HMG-I protein expression in prol
iferating RASMCs in vivo and in vitro. This demonstration suggests that the
HMG-I proteins may play an important role in smooth muscle cell proliferat
ion. (C) 1999 Academic Press.