Pulmonary fibrosis distal airway epithelia are dynamically and structurally dysfunctional
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ABSTRACT: To identify genes regulating the jamming transition in healthy distal airway epithelia compared to the dysregulated state in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis epithelia (IPF) we analyzed RNA from three (3) healthy and four (4) IPF patient cells grown at air-liquid-interface (ALI). This bulk analysis of 3 timepointes (days 4, 8, and 14 of ALI) spanning the jamming transition revealed an enrichment for ERBB- and YAP-related genes.
Project description:The airway epithelium serves as the interface between the host and external environment. In many chronic lung diseases, the airway is the site of substantial remodeling after injury. While, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has traditionally been considered a disease of the alveolus and lung matrix, the dominant environmental (cigarette smoking) and genetic (gain of function MUC5B promoter variant) risk factor primarily affect the distal airway epithelium. Moreover, airway-specific pathogenic features of IPF include bronchiolization of the distal airspace with abnormal airway cell-types and honeycomb cystic terminal airway-like structures with concurrent loss of terminal bronchioles in regions of minimal fibrosis. However, the pathogenic role of the airway epithelium in IPF is unknown. Combining biophysical, genetic, and signaling analyses of primary airway epithelial cells, we demonstrate that healthy and IPF airway epithelia are biophysically distinct, identifying pathologic activation of the ERBB-YAP axis as a specific and modifiable driver of prolongation of the unjammed-to-jammed transition in IPF epithelia. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this biophysical state and signaling axis correlates with epithelial-driven activation of the underlying mesenchyme. Our data illustrate the active mechanisms regulating airway epithelial-driven fibrosis and identify targets to modulate disease progression.
Project description:The goal of this study was to compare cell composition and gene expression of different cell types in healthy primary human airway epithelia cultured at the air-liquid interface
Project description:The mast cell-specific metalloprotease CPA3 has been given important roles in lung tissue homeostasis and disease pathogenesis. However, the dynamics and spatial distribution of mast cells CPA3 expression in lung diseases remains unknown. Methods: Using a histology-based approach for spatial and quantitative simultaneous decoding of mRNA and protein expression at a single cell level, this study investigates the dynamics of CPA3 expression across mast cells residing in lungs from healthy controls and patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or idiopathic lung fibrosis (IPF). Results: Mast cells in COPD lungs had increased CPA3 mRNA (bronchioles p<0.001, pulmonary vessels p< 0.01, alveolar parenchyma p< 0.01) compared to controls, while granule stored CPA3 protein was unaltered. IPF lungs had a significant upregulation of both CPA3 mRNA (p<0.001) and protein (p<0.05) in the fibrotic alveolar tissue. IPF was also characterized by highest density of distal lung mast cells. As an indication of disease relevant increased CPA3 turnover, spatial expression maps revealed altered mast cell mRNA/protein quotients in lung areas subjected to disease-relevant histopathological alterations. Single cell RNA sequencing of bronchial mast cells confirmed CPA3 as a top expressed gene with potential links to both inflammatory and protective markers. Conclusion: This study shows that lung tissue mast cell populations in COPD and IPF-affected lungs have spatially complex and markedly up-regulated CPA3 expression profiles that correlates with sites of structural pathologies. Given the proposed roles of CPA3 in tissue homeostasis, remodeling and inflammation, these alterations are likely to have clinical consequences.
Project description:The goal of this study was to examine changes to gene expression induced by IL-13 treatment of air-liquid interface cultures of healthy primary human airway epithelia over time.
Project description:The goal of this study was to examine changes in cell composition and gene expression with IL-13 treatment over time within different cell types from air-liquid interface cultures from healthy primary human airway epithelia.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of Bmi1 mutant dental epithelia including the stem cell compartment to determine which genes are upregulated in response to loss of Bmi1. Two condition experiment: dental epithelia homozygous null for Bmi1 and WT dental epithelia. 4 replicates each
Project description:Comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data from CD49f+NGFR+, CD49f-NGFR- cell sorted from differentiated MTEC cultures collected at ALI day 10, and MTEC culture taken at ALI t0
Project description:To gain insights into the initial phases of P. aeruginosa infections and to identify P. aeruginosa genes regulated in response to respiratory epithelia we exposed P. aeruginosa to cultured primary differentiated human airway epithelia. We used a P. aeruginosa strain (PAO1) that causes acute damage to the epithelia and a mutant (PAOSC11) with defects in Type III secretion and in rhamnolipid synthesis. The mutant did not cause rapid damage to epithelia as did the wildtype. Keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and respiratory epithelia