The Calcium Channel Subunit Gamma-4 as a Novel Regulator of MafA in Pancreatic Beta-Cell Controls Glucose Homeostasis

Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) are high-risk factors of diabetes development and may be caused by defective insulin secretion in pancreatic beta-cells. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion is mediated by voltage-gated Ca2+ (CaV) channels in which the gamma-4 subunit (Ca-V gamma 4) is required for the beta-cell to maintain its differentiated state. We here aim to explore the involvement of Ca-V gamma 4 in controlling glucose homeostasis by employing the Ca-V gamma 4(-/-) mice to study in vivo glucose-metabolism-related phenotypes and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, and to investigate the underlying mechanisms. We show that Ca-V gamma 4(-/-) mice exhibit perturbed glucose homeostasis, including IFG and IGT. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion is blunted in Ca-V gamma 4(-/-)mouse islets. Remarkably, Ca-V gamma 4 deletion results in reduced expression of the transcription factor essential for beta-cell maturation, MafA, on both mRNA and protein levels in islets from human donors and Ca-V gamma 4(-/-) mice, as well as in INS-1 832/13 cells. Moreover, we prove that CaMKII is responsible for mediating this regulatory pathway linked between Ca-V gamma 4 and MafA, which is further confirmed by human islet RNA-seq data. We demonstrate that Ca-V gamma 4 is a key player in preserving normal blood glucose homeostasis, which sheds light on Ca-V gamma 4 as a novel target for the treatment of prediabetes through correcting the impaired metabolic status.