ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2024
Epithelial tubule interconnection driven by HGF-Met signaling in the kidney.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reciprocal E-cadherin signaling aligns apical surfaces between neighboring epithelial tissues to complete the C. elegans digestive tract.Current biology : CB · 2026Article
- Developmentally inspired synthetic kidney engineering.Nature biotechnology · 2026Review
- Transcription factors ETV4 and ETV5 are required for nephron progenitor cell maintenance, distal nephron development and connection to the collecting system.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Article
- The kidney stroma in development and disease.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2025Review
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8 authors.
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Abstract
The formation of functional epithelial tubules is critical for the development and maintenance of many organ systems. While the mechanisms of tubule formation by epithelial cells are well studied, the process of tubule anastomosis-where tubules connect to form a continuous network-remains poorly understood. In this study, we utilized single-cell RNA sequencing to analyze embryonic mouse kidney tubules undergoing anastomosis. Our analysis identified hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as a key potential mediator of this process. To investigate this further, we developed an assay using epithelial spheroids with fluorescently tagged apical surfaces, allowing us to visualize and quantify tubule-tubule connections. Our results demonstrate that HGF promotes tubule anastomosis, and it does so through the MAPK signaling pathway and MMPs, independently of cell proliferation. Remarkably, treatment with HGF and collagenase was sufficient to induce tubule anastomosis in embryonic mouse kidneys. These findings provide a foundational understanding of how to enhance the formation of functional tubular networks. This has significant clinical implications for the use of in vitro-grown kidney tissues in transplant medicine, potentially improving the success and integration of transplanted tissues.
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