Notch signaling regulates oral stem cell behaviors

Summary : Notch signaling regulates various physiological and pathological processes. It is unique signaling in that direct cell-to-cell contact is required for intracellular signaling activation and there is no signal amplification with secondary messenger intracellularly. Our group focuses on the role of Notch signaling activation using an indirect ligand immobilization technique on the responses of oral stem cells ranging from mesenchymal stem cells to induced pluripotent stem cells. In human dental pulp stem cells, Notch signaling promotes odonto/osteogenic differentiation by the interaction of Notch2/Jagged1. Bone morphogenic protein and Wnt pathway participate in Jagged1-induced odonto/osteogenic differentiation in human dental pulp stem cells. The omics analyses of mRNA, miRNA, and protein expression of Jagged-1 treated human dental pulp stem cells reveal that Notch signaling activation modulates cell cycle progression, extracellular matrix organization, and cell differentiation. The global mRNA, miRNA, and protein expression after Notch activation leads to an in-depth understanding of how Notch signaling controls responses and functions in human dental pulp stem cells.