Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles that are thought to participate in intercellular communication. Recent work from our laboratory suggests that, in normal and cystic liver, exosome-like vesicles accumulate in the lumen of intrahepatic bile ducts, presumably interacting with cholangiocyte cilia. However, direct evidence for exosome-ciliary interaction is limited and the physiological relevance of such interaction remains unknown. Thus, in this study, we tested the hypothesis that biliary exosomes are involved in intercellular communication by interacting with cholangiocyte cilia and inducing intracellular signaling and functional responses. Exosomes were isolated from rat bile by differential ultracentrifugation and characterized by scanning, transmission, and immunoelectron microscopy. The exosome-ciliary interaction and its effects on ERK1/2 signaling, expression of the microRNA, miR-15A, and cholangiocyte proliferation were studied on ciliated and deciliated cultured normal rat cholangiocytes. Our results show that bile contains vesicles identified as exosomes by their size, characteristic "saucer-shaped" morphology, and specific markers, CD63 and Tsg101. When NRCs were exposed to isolated biliary exosomes, the exosomes attached to cilia, inducing a decrease of the phosphorylated-to-total ERK1/2 ratio, an increase of miR-15A expression, and a decrease of cholangiocyte proliferation. All these effects of biliary exosomes were abolished by the pharmacological removal of cholangiocyte cilia. Our findings suggest that bile contains exosomes functioning as signaling nanovesicles and influencing intracellular regulatory mechanisms and cholangiocyte proliferation through interaction with primary cilia.

Primary cilia are multisensory organelles recently found to be absent in some tumor cells, but the mechanisms of deciliation and the role of cilia in tumor biology remain unclear. Cholangiocytes, the epithelial cells lining the biliary tree, normally express primary cilia and their interaction with bile components regulates multiple processes, including proliferation and transport. Utilizing cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) as a model, we found primary cilia are reduced in CCA by a mechanism involving histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6). The experimental deciliation of normal cholangiocyte cells increased the proliferation rate and induced anchorage-independent growth. Furthermore, deciliation induced the activation of MAPK and Hedgehog signaling, two important pathways involved in CCA development. We found HDAC6 is overexpressed in CCA and overexpression of HDAC6 in normal cholangiocytes induced deciliation, and increased both proliferation and anchorage-independent growth. To evaluate the effect of cilia restoration on tumor cells, we targeted HDAC6 by shRNA or by the pharmacologic inhibitor, tubastatin-A. Both approaches restored the expression of primary cilia in CCA cell lines and decreased cell proliferation and anchorage-independent growth. The effects of tubastatin-A were abolished when CCA cells were rendered unable to regenerate cilia by stable transfection of IFT88-shRNA. Finally, inhibition of HDAC6 by tubastatin-A also induced a significant decrease in tumor growth in a CCA animal model. Our data support a key role for primary cilia in malignant transformation, provide a plausible mechanism for their involvement, and suggest that restoration of primary cilia in tumor cells by HDAC6 targeting may be a potential therapeutic approach for CCA.

TGR5, the G protein-coupled bile acid receptor that transmits bile acid signaling into a cell functional response via the intracellular cAMP signaling pathway, is expressed in human and rodent cholangiocytes. However, detailed information on the localization and function of cholangiocyte TGR5 is limited. We demonstrated that in human (H69 cells) and rat cholangiocytes, TGR5 is localized to multiple, diverse subcellular compartments, with its strongest expression on the apical plasma, ciliary, and nuclear membranes. To evaluate the relationship between ciliary TGR5 and the cholangiocyte functional response to bile acid signaling, we used a model of ciliated and nonciliated H69 cells and demonstrated that TGR5 agonists induce opposite changes in cAMP and ERK levels in cells with and without primary cilia. The cAMP level was increased in nonciliated cholangiocytes but decreased in ciliated cells. In contrast, ERK signaling was induced in ciliated cholangiocytes but suppressed in cells without cilia. TGR5 agonists inhibited proliferation of ciliated cholangiocytes but activated proliferation of nonciliated cells. The observed differential effects of TGR5 agonists were associated with the coupling of TGR5 to Gαi protein in ciliated cells and Gαs protein in nonciliated cholangiocytes. The functional responses of nonciliated and ciliated cholangiocytes to TGR5-mediated bile acid signaling may have important pathophysiological significance in cilia-related liver disorders (i.e., cholangiociliopathies), such as polycystic liver disease. In summary, TGR5 is expressed on diverse cholangiocyte compartments, including a primary cilium, and its ciliary localization determines the cholangiocyte functional response to bile acid signaling.

In polycystic liver (PLD) and kidney (PKD) diseases, increased cAMP levels trigger hepato-renal cystogenesis. We previously reported that reduction of elevated cAMP by targeting somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) with Octreotide (OCT; a somatostatin analogue that preferentially binds to SSTR2), inhibits cyst growth. We now compare effects of OCT to Pasireotide (PAS; a more potent somatostatin analogue with broader receptor specificity) on: (i) cAMP levels, cell cycle, proliferation and cyst expansion in vitro using cholangiocytes derived from control and PCK rats (a model of autosomal recessive PKD [ARPKD]), healthy human beings and patients with autosomal dominant PKD (ADPKD); and (ii) hepato-renal cystogenesis in vivo in PCK rats and Pkd2WS25/− mice (a model of ADPKD). Expression of SSTRs was assessed in control and cystic cholangiocytes of rodents and human beings. Concentrations of IGF and VEGF (both involved in indirect action of somatostatin analogs), and expression and localization of SSTRs after treatment were evaluated. We showed that PAS was more potent (by 30–45%) than OCT in reducing cAMP and cell proliferation, affecting cell cycle distribution, decreasing growth of cultured cysts in vitro and inhibiting hepato-renal cystogenesis in vivo in PCK rats and Pkd2WS25/− mice. The levels of IGF1 (but not VEGF) were reduced only in response to PAS. Expression of SSTR1 and SSTR2 (but not SSTR3 and SSTR5) was decreased in cystic cholangiocytes compared to control. While both OCT and PAS increased immunoreactivity of SSTR2, only PAS up-regulated SSTR1; neither drug affected cellular localization of SSTRs. Conclusion PAS is more effective than OCT in reducing hepato-renal cystogenesis in rodent models; therefore it might be more beneficial for the treatment of PKD and PLD.