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Article
Subject Categories: Membranes & Transport | Signal Transduction
The EMBO Journal (2002) 21, 6409–6418, doi: 10.1093/emboj/cdf629
Oncostatin M regulates membrane traffic and stimulates bile canalicular membrane biogenesis in HepG2 cells
Johanna M. van der Wouden, Sven C.D. van IJzendoorn and Dick Hoekstra
Department of Membrane Cell Biology, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713AV Groningen, The Netherlands

To whom correspondence should be addressed
Dick Hoekstra, d.hoekstra@med.rug.nl

Received 27 May 2002; Revised 4 October 2002; Accepted 4 October 2002.
Abstract
Hepatocytes are the major epithelial cells of the liver and they display membrane polarity: the sinusoidal membrane representing the basolateral surface, while the bile canalicular membrane is typical of the apical membrane. In polarized HepG2 cells an endosomal organelle, SAC, fulfills a prominent role in the biogenesis of the canalicular membrane, reflected by its ability to sort and redistribute apical and basolateral sphingolipids. Here we show that SAC appears to be a crucial target for a cytokine-induced signal transduction pathway, which stimulates membrane transport exiting from this compartment promoting apical membrane biogenesis. Thus, oncostatin M, an IL-6-type cytokine, stimulates membrane polarity development in HepG2 cells via the gp130 receptor unit, which activates a protein kinase A-dependent and sphingomyelin-marked membrane transport pathway from SAC to the apical membrane. To exert its signal transducing function, gp130 is recruited into detergent-resistant membrane microdomains at the basolateral membrane. These data provide a clue for a molecular mechanism that couples the biogenesis of an apical plasma membrane domain to the regulation of intracellular transport in response to an extracellular, basolaterally localized stimulus.
Keywords: apical plasma membrane, HepG2 cell, oncostatin M, sphingomyelin, subapical compartment
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