Mechano growth factor E peptide promotes rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell migration through CXCR4-ERK1/2

Abstract

Mechano growth factor (MGF) is a splicing variant of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). The unique C-terminal E domain of MGF (MGF-E) makes it distinct from the other variants of IGF-1. Our previous work demonstrated that MGF-25E induces the migration of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs) by altering their mechanical properties, which is accompanied by the activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) pathway. However, the relationship between ERK1/2 activation and the change in mechanical properties has not been illustrated. In the present study, we determined that MGF-25E induced the migration of rMSCs by modulating CXCR4 to activate the ERK1/2 pathway. The analysis of the Young’s modulus and F-actin remodeling indicated that MGF-25E increased the stiffness and the F-actin polymerization of rMSCs through the activation of the CXCR4-ERK1/2 pathway. For the first time, this study clarified the signaling pathway that regulates the mechanical properties of rMSCs and is responsible for MGF-25E-promoted migration.

• Cell stiffness
• C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4
• extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2
• F-actin
• mechano growth factor
• rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Declaration of interest

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11032012, 11102240 and 11272365), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. CDJZR10230012 and 106112015CDJZR238807), the Visiting Scholar Foundation of Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology (Chongqing University), the Ministry of Education of China (No. CQKLBST-2012-008), and the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20130191110029).

Supplementary material available online

Supplementary Figures 1 and 2