Dietary intervention preserves β cell function in mice through CTCF-mediated transcriptional reprogramming
Ruo‐Ran Wang, Xinyuan Qiu, Ran Pan, Hongxing Fu, Ziyin Zhang, Qintao Wang, Haide Chen, Qingqian Wu, Xiaowen Pan, Yanping Zhou, Peng‐Fei Shan, Shusen Wang, Guoji Guo, Min Zheng, Lingyun Zhu, Zhuo‐Xian Meng
Abstract
Pancreatic β cell plasticity is the primary determinant of disease progression and remission of type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the dynamic nature of β cell adaptation remains elusive. Here, we establish a mouse model exhibiting the compensation-to-decompensation adaptation of β cell function in response to increasing duration of high-fat diet (HFD) feeding. Comprehensive islet functional and transcriptome analyses reveal a dynamic orchestration of transcriptional networks featuring temporal alteration of chromatin remodeling. Interestingly, prediabetic dietary intervention completely rescues β cell dysfunction, accompanied by a remarkable reversal of HFD-induced reprogramming of islet chromatin accessibility and transcriptome. Mechanistically, ATAC-based motif analysis identifies CTCF as the top candidate driving dietary intervention-induced preservation of β cell function. CTCF expression is markedly decreased in β cells from obese and diabetic mice and humans. Both dietary intervention and AAV-mediated restoration of CTCF expression ameliorate β cell dysfunction ex vivo and in vivo, through transducing the lipid toxicity and inflammatory signals to transcriptional reprogramming of genes critical for β cell glucose metabolism and stress response.