Decreased expression of LATS1 correlates with astrogliosis after spinal cord injury

Large tumor suppressor kinase 1 (LATS1) is a serine/threonine kinase of the AGC kinase family in mammals and involved in various biological processes, it is a key regulator of cell cycle progression. However, the role of LATS1 in central nervous system trauma is still unknown. In present study, we performed an acute spinal cord injury (SCI) model in adult rats and investigated the dynamic changes of LATS1 expression in the spinal cord. We found that LATS1 protein levels were significantly decreased at day 1 after injury. Meanwhile, double immunofluorescence staining showed these changes were striking in astrocytes, which were largely proliferated after SCI. In vitro, LATS1 overexpression inhibited astrocyte proliferation. Conversely, LATS1 depletion by siRNA promoted cell proliferation in primary astrocyte. Moreover, LATS1 overexpression reduced cyclin D1 expression and increased the expression of p27kip1. In addition, LATS1 overexpression also promoted yes-associated protein 1 (YAP) phosphorylation. Our data suggested that LATS1 might play an important role in spinal cord injury and suppress astrogliosis through regulating the expression of cyclin D1, p27kip1 and p-YAP.