Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 and mTORC1 Signaling Promote the Intestinal Regenerative Response After Irradiation Injury

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Intestinal crypts have a remarkable capacity to regenerate after injury from loss of crypt base columnar (CBC) stem cells. After injury, facultative stem cells (FSCs) are activated to replenish the epithelium and replace lost CBCs. Our aim was to assess the role of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) to activate FSCs for crypt repair. METHODS: The intestinal regenerative response was measured after whole body 12-Gy γ-irradiation of adult mice. IGF-1 signaling or its downstream effector mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) was inhibited by administering BMS-754807 or rapamycin, respectively. Mice with inducible Rptor gene deletion were studied to test the role of mTORC1 signaling in the intestinal epithelium. FSC activation post-irradiation was measured by lineage tracing. RESULTS: We observed a coordinate increase in growth factor expression, including IGF-1, at 2 days post-irradiation, followed by a surge in mTORC1 activity during the regenerative phase of crypt repair at day 4. IGF-1 was localized to pericryptal mesenchymal cells, and IGF-1 receptor was broadly expressed in crypt progenitor cells. Inhibition of IGF-1 signaling via BMS-754807 treatment impaired crypt regeneration after 12-Gy irradiation, with no effect on homeostasis. Similarly, rapamycin inhibition of mTORC1 during the growth factor surge blunted the regenerative response. Analysis of Villin-CreER(T2);Rptor(fl/fl) mice showed that epithelial mTORC1 signaling was essential for crypt regeneration. Lineage tracing from Bmi1-marked cells showed that rapamycin blocked FSC activation post-irradiation. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that IGF-1 signaling through mTORC1 drives crypt regeneration. We propose that IGF-1 release from pericryptal cells stimulates mTORC1 in FSCs to regenerate lost CBCs.