Reversal of dual epigenetic repression of non-canonical Wnt-5a normalises diabetic corneal epithelial wound healing and stem cells.

{"sci_version": "1.2", "schema": "https://corpus.bntrg.co.uk/sci/1.0/sci.schema.json", "id": "pmid:37460827", "kind": "science-record", "revision": 3, "content_hash": "sha256:ae76cc42bf6622fb23bfed99ae57ad7cb3797abf5650be03f960a2e1441c320f", "created_at": "2026-11-01T19:02:14Z", "updated_at": "2026-11-01T21:31:11Z", "generator": {"name": "corpus-assay-engine", "run_id": "reading-sci-2026-11-01"}, "paper": {"state": "complete", "title": "Reversal of dual epigenetic repression of non-canonical Wnt-5a normalises diabetic corneal epithelial wound healing and stem cells.", "doi": "10.1007/s00125-023-05960-1", "pmid": "37460827", "authors": ["Ruchi Shah", "Tanya M Spektor", "Daniel J Weisenberger", "Hui Ding", "Rameshwar Patil", "Cynthia Amador", "Xue-Ying Song", "Steven T Chun", "Jake Inzalaco", "Sue Turjman", "Sean Ghiam", "Jiho Jeong-Kim", "Sasha Tolstoff", "Sabina V Yampolsky", "Onkar B Sawant", "Yaron S Rabinowitz", "Ezra Maguen", "Pedram Hamrah", "Clive N Svendsen", "Mehrnoosh Saghizadeh", "Julia Y Ljubimova", "Andrei A Kramerov", "Alexander V Ljubimov"], "journal": "Diabetologia", "year": 2023, "abstract": "AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Diabetes is associated with epigenetic modifications including DNA methylation and miRNA changes. Diabetic complications in the cornea can cause persistent epithelial defects and impaired wound healing due to limbal epithelial stem cell (LESC) dysfunction. In this study, we aimed to uncover epigenetic alterations in diabetic vs non-diabetic human limbal epithelial cells (LEC) enriched in LESC and identify new diabetic markers that can be targeted for therapy to normalise corneal epithelial wound healing and stem cell expression.\nMETHODS: Human LEC were isolated, or organ-cultured corneas were obtained, from autopsy eyes from non-diabetic (59.87±20.89 years) and diabetic (71.93±9.29 years) donors. The groups were not statistically different in age. DNA was extracted from LEC for methylation analysis using Illumina Infinium 850K MethylationEPIC BeadChip and protein was extracted for Wnt phospho array analysis. Wound healing was studied using a scratch assay in LEC or 1-heptanol wounds in organ-cultured corneas. Organ-cultured corneas and LEC were transfected with WNT5A siRNA, miR-203a mimic or miR-203a inhibitor or were treated with recombinant Wnt-5a (200 ng/ml), DNA methylation inhibitor zebularine (1-20 µmol/l) or biodegradable nanobioconjugates (NBCs) based on polymalic acid scaffold containing antisense oligonucleotide (AON) to miR-203a or a control scrambled AON (15-20 µmol/l).\nRESULTS: There was significant differential DNA methylation between diabetic and non-diabetic LEC. WNT5A promoter was hypermethylated in diabetic LEC accompanied with markedly decreased Wnt-5a protein. Treatment of diabetic LEC and organ-cultured corneas with exogenous Wnt-5a accelerated wound healing by 1.4-fold (p<0.05) and 37% (p<0.05), respectively, and increased LESC and diabetic marker expression. Wnt-5a treatment in diabetic LEC increased the phosphorylation of members of the Ca2+-dependent non-canonical pathway (phospholipase Cγ1 and protein kinase Cβ; by 1.15-fold [p<0.05] and 1.36-fold [p<0.05], respectively). In diabetic LEC, zebularine treatment increased the levels of Wnt-5a by 1.37-fold (p<0.01)and stimulated wound healing in a dose-dependent manner with a 1.6-fold (p<0.01) increase by 24 h. Moreover, zebularine also improved wound healing by 30% (p<0.01) in diabetic organ-cultured corneas and increased LESC and diabetic marker expression. Transfection of these cells with WNT5A siRNA abrogated wound healing stimulation by zebularine, suggesting that its effect was primarily due to inhibition of WNT5A hypermethylation. Treatment of diabetic LEC and organ-cultured corneas with NBC enhanced wound healing by 1.4-fold (p<0.01) and 23.3% (p<0.05), respectively, with increased expression of LESC and diabetic markers.\nCONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: We provide the first account of epigenetic changes in diabetic corneas including dual inhibition of WNT5A by DNA methylation and miRNA action. Overall, Wnt-5a is a new corneal epithelial wound healing stimulator that can be targeted to improve wound healing and stem cells in the diabetic cornea.\nDATA AVAILABILITY: The DNA methylation dataset is available from the public GEO repository under accession no. GSE229328 ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE229328 ).", "claims": [{"id": "claim-method", "statement": "Using a cut-off of ≥0.2 and a false discovery rate (FDR)-adjusted p value of <0.05, we identified a cluster of 446 probes with significant differences in DNA methylation between the groups and clear segregation by principal component analysis (PCA) plot [19] (Fig. 1a,b).", "kind": "methodological", "target": null, "evidence": [{"asset": "source:pmid:37460827", "locator": "sections[17] \"Diabetic and non-diabetic cultured LEC have differential DNA methylation profiles\" paragraph 2", "quote": "Using a cut-off of ≥0.2 and a false discovery rate (FDR)-adjusted p value of <0.05, we identified a cluster of 446 probes with significant differences in DNA methylation between the groups and clear segregation by principal component analysis (PCA) plot [19] (Fig. 1a,b)."}], "state": "complete"}, {"id": "claim-data-access", "statement": "The DNA methylation dataset is available from the public GEO repository under accession no. 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Organ-cultured corneas and LEC were transfected with WNT5A siRNA, miR-203a mimic or miR-203a", "creased LESC and diabetic marker expression. Transfection of these cells with WNT5A siRNA abrogated wo", "corneas and LEC were transfected with WNT5A siRNA, miR-203a mimic or miR-203a inhibitor or wer", "sion. Transfection of these cells with WNT5A siRNA abrogated wound healing stimulation by zebul"], "order_basis": "paper_text_order:1165", "id": "assay:2"}, {"role": "analysis", "definition_id": "principal_component_analysis", "definition_version": "f2132e96ae6c7a4e", "definition_digest": null, "required_operations": ["pca_fit"], "support_state": "supported", "source_hashes": {"dsl_catalogue": "f2132e96ae6c7a4e"}, "confidence": 0.8, "evidence": ["principal component analysis"], "order_basis": "consumes_earlier_output", "id": "assay:3"}]}