Functional divergence of WWC family proteins in human endothelial cells

Abstract

The Hippo signaling pathway is increasingly recognized as a key regulator of endothelial cell (EC) proliferation, migration and vascular development. However, the roles of its upstream scaffold proteins remain poorly understood. Although WWC family proteins are widely regarded as functionally redundant activators of LATS1/2 kinases, the human genome contains a third family member, WWC3, that is absent from mice, raising the possibility of species-specific regulation of endothelial Hippo signaling. Here, we assessed the roles of WWC2 and WWC3 in human ECs using siRNA-mediated knockdown. Surprisingly, we found that WWC3 is the predominant regulator of canonical Hippo signaling, with a substantially greater effect than WWC2 on LATS1/2 phosphorylation, YAP/TAZ localization and expression of Hippo target genes. Loss of WWC3 also altered endothelial morphology and induced a partial endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition-like (EndoMT-like) phenotype. By contrast, WWC2 had a lesser effect on canonical Hippo signaling, but it was required for normal VEGF signaling dynamics. Despite these distinct molecular functions, depletion of either WWC2 or WWC3 impaired EC proliferation, migration, and cord formation in vitro. Together, our findings demonstrate that WWC family proteins perform overlapping but distinct functions in human ECs, with WWC3 acting as the predominant canonical Hippo regulator, whereas WWC2 more efficiently modulates VEGF signaling. These results reveal unexpected functional specialization among WWC proteins and suggest that regulation of Hippo signaling in human ECs differs from that inferred from mouse studies.