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Kang, Sona

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Kang

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Sona

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Kang, Sona
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.122e507f-614e-47a9-af06-4f6b16038614

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    Identification of nuclear hormone receptor pathways causing insulin resistance by transcriptional and epigenomic analysis
    (2014) Kang, Sona; Tsai, Linus; Zhou, Yiming; Evertts, Adam; Xu, Su; Griffin, Michael J.; Issner, Robbyn; Whitton, Holly J.; Garcia, Benjamin A.; Epstein, Charles B.; Mikkelsen, Tarjei S.; Rosen, Evan
    Summary Insulin resistance is a sine qua non of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and a frequent complication of multiple clinical conditions, including obesity, aging, and steroid use, among others. How such a panoply of insults can result in a common phenotype is incompletely understood. Furthermore, very little is known about the transcriptional and epigenetic basis of this disorder, despite evidence that such pathways are likely to play a fundamental role. Here, we compare cell autonomous models of insulin resistance induced by the cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF) or by the steroid dexamethasone (Dex) to construct detailed transcriptional and epigenomic maps associated with cellular insulin resistance. These data predict that the glucocorticoid receptor and vitamin D receptor are common mediators of insulin resistance, which we validate using gain- and loss-of-function studies. These studies define a common transcriptional and epigenomic signature in cellular insulin resistance enabling the identification of pathogenic mechanisms.
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    Regulation of Early Adipose Commitment by Zfp521
    (Public Library of Science, 2012) Kang, Sona; Akerblad, Peter; Kiviranta, Riku; Gupta, Rana K.; Kajimura, Shingo; Griffin, Michael John; Min, Jie; Baron, Roland; Rosen, Evan
    While there has been significant progress in determining the transcriptional cascade involved in terminal adipocyte differentiation, less is known about early events leading to lineage commitment and cell fate choice. It has been recently discovered that zinc finger protein 423 (Zfp423) is an early actor in adipose determination. Here, we show that a close paralog of Zfp423, Zfp521, acts as a key regulator of adipose commitment and differentiation in vitro and in vivo. Zfp521 exerts its actions by binding to early B cell factor 1 (Ebf1), a transcription factor required for the generation of adipocyte progenitors, and inhibiting the expression of Zfp423. Overexpression of Zfp521 in cells greatly inhibits adipogenic potential, whereas RNAi-mediated knock-down or genetic ablation of Zfp521 enhances differentiation. In addition, \(Zfp521^{−/−}\) embryos exhibit increased mass of interscapular brown adipose tissue and subcutaneous white adipocytes, a cell autonomous effect. Finally, Ebf1 participates in a negative feedback loop to repress Zfp521 as differentiation proceeds. Because Zfp521 is known to promote bone development, our results suggest that it acts as a critical switch in the commitment decision between the adipogenic and osteogenic lineages.