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Revisiting the Hayflick Limit: Insights from an Integrated Analysis of Changing Transcripts, Proteins, Metabolites, and Chromatin

ABSTRACT: Replicative senescence (RS) as a model has become the central focus of research into cellular aging in vitro. Despite decades of study, this process through which cells cease dividing is not fully understood in culture, and even much less so in vivo during development and with aging. Here, we revisit Hayflick’s original observation of RS in WI-38 human fetal lung fibroblasts equipped with a battery of high dimensional modern techniques and analytical methods to deeply profile the process of RS across each aspect of the central dogma and beyond. We applied and integrated RNA-seq, proteomics, metabolomics, and ATAC-seq to a high resolution RS time course. We found that the transcriptional changes that underlie RS manifest early, gradually increase, and correspond to a concomitant global increase in accessibility in nucleolar and lamin associated domains. During RS WI-38 fibroblast gene expression patterns acquire a striking resemblance to those of myofibroblasts in a process similar to the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). This observation is supported at the transcriptional, proteomic, and metabolomic levels of cellular biology. In addition, we provide evidence suggesting that t s conversion is regulated by the transcription factors YAP1/TEAD1 and the signaling molecule TGF-β

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE175533 | GEO | 2021/05/26

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Background: Myofibroblasts (MYFs) are generally considered the principal culprits in excessive extracellular matrix deposition and scar formation in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis. Lipofibroblasts (LIFs), on the other hand, are defined by their lipid-storing capacity and are predominantly found in the alveolar regions of the lung. They have been proposed to play a protective role in lung fibrosis. We previously reported that a LIF to MYF reversible differentiation switch occurred during fibrosis formation and resolution. In this study, we tested whether WI-38 cells, a human embryonic lung fibroblast cell line, could be used to study fibroblast differentiation towards the LIF or MYF phenotype and whether this could be relevant for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Methods: using WI-38 cells, MYF differentiation was triggered using TGF-β1 treatment and LIF differentiation using Metformin treatment. We analyzed the LIF to MYF and MYF to LIF differentiation by pre-treating the WI-38 cells with TGF-β1 or Metformin first, followed by treatment with Metformin and TGF-β1, respectively. We used IF, qPCR and bulk RNA-Seq to analyze the phenotypic and transcriptomic changes in the cells. We correlated our in vitro transcriptome data from WI-38 cells (obtained via bulk RNA sequencing) with the transcriptomic signature of LIFs and MYFs derived from the IPF cell atlas as well as with our own single-cell transcriptomic data from IFP patients-derived lung fibroblasts (LF-IPF) cultured in vitro. We also carried out alveolosphere assays to evaluate the ability of the proposed LIF and MYF cells to support the growth of alveolar epithelial type 2 cells. Results: WI-38 and LF-IPF display similar phenotypical and gene expression responses to TGF-β1 and Metformin treatment. Bulk RNA-Seq analysis of WI-38 and LF-IPF treated with TGF-β1, or Metformin indicate similar transcriptomic changes. We also show the partial conservation of the LIF and MYF signature extracted from the Habermann et al. scRNA-seq dataset in WI-38 cells treated with Metformin or TGF-β1, respectively. Alveolosphere assays indicate that LIFs enhance organoid growth, while MYFs inhibit organoid growth. Finally, we provide evidence supporting the LIF to MYF reversible switch using WI-38 cells. Conclusions: WI-38 cells represent a versatile and reliable model to study the intricate dynamics of fibroblast differentiation towards the MYF or LIF phenotype associated with lung fibrosis formation and resolution, providing valuable insights to drive future research

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Revisiting the Hayflick Limit: Insights from an Integrated Analysis of Changing Transcripts, Proteins, Metabolites, and Chromatin

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