Non-cell autonomous inhibition of the Shh pathway due to impaired cholesterol biosynthesis requires Ptch1/2
AbstractBirth defects due to congenital errors in enzymes involved cholesterol synthesis like Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS) and Lathosterolosis cause an accumulation of cholesterol precursors and a deficit in cholesterol. The phenotype of both SLOS and Lathosterolosis have similarities to syndromes associated with abnormal Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling, consistent with the notion that impaired cholesterol signaling can cause reduced Shh signaling. Two multipass membrane proteins play central roles in Shh signal transduction, the putative Resistance, Nodulation and Division (RND) antiporters Ptch1 and Ptch2, and the G-protein coupled receptor Smoothened (Smo). Sterols have been suggested as cargo for Ptch1, while Smo activity can affected both positively and negatively by steroidal molecules. We demonstrate that mESCs mutant for 7-dehydroxycholesterol reductase (7dhcr) or sterol-C5-desaturase (sc5d) reduce the Hh response in nearby wildtype cells when grown in mosaic organoids. This non-cell autonomous inhibitory activity of the mutant cells required the presence of both Ptch1 and Ptch2. These observations support a model in which late cholesterol precursors that accumulate in cells lacking 7DHCR are the cargo for Ptch1 and Ptch2 activity that mediates the non-cell autonomous inhibition of Smo.