Molecular profiling of autocrine-acting and angiocrine-acting vascular Wnt signalling in the liver.

Recent advances in single-cell technology revealed that every major hepatic cell type can be characterized by such zonated gene expression gradients. In this regard, the endothelium was identified as a crucial instructor of hepatic zonation by fuelling the hepatocytes with Wnt ligands and potentiators in an angiocrine manner.

To further dissect the role of vascular Wnt factors in shaping liver homeostasis, we employed single-cell RNA sequencing on FACS-sorted hepatocytes and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) from Wnt-deficient mice and their littermate control.