Regulation of Sonic Hedgehog Expression by Integrin β1 and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor in Intestinal Epithelium

We previously found that conditional deletion of integrin beta 1 in intestinal epithelium of mice caused early postnatal lethality and intestinal phenotypic changes including excessive proliferation and defective differentiation of intestinal epithelium due to loss of Hedgehog expression. Here, we link these defects to the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway and show that loss of integrin beta 1 leads to excessive phosphorylation of MEK-1 and increased expression of ErbB receptors, including the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). We show that increased EGFR signaling attenuates Hh abundance and that an EGFR inhibitor rescues conditional beta 1 integrin null pups from postnatal lethality. These studies link the loss of Hh expression in the intestinal epithelium of integrin beta 1-deficient mice to excessive EGFR/MAPK signaling, and identify a unique mechanism for crosstalk between stromal and epithelial signaling pathways that is critical for intestinal epithelial differentiation and function. (C) 2014 IUBMB Life, 66(10): 694-703, 2014