Regulation of the Alveolar Epithelial Transitional State in Murine and Human Pulmonary Fibrosis
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE223302 | GEO | 2023/10/18
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Many lung diseases result from a failure of efficient regeneration of damaged alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) after lung injury. During regeneration, AEC2s proliferate to replace lost cells, after which proliferation halts and some AEC2s transdifferentiate into AEC1s to restore normal alveolar structure and function. Although the mechanisms underlying AEC2 proliferation have been studied, the mechanisms responsible for halting proliferation and inducing transdifferentiation are poorly understood. To identify candidate signaling pathways responsible for halting proliferation and inducing transdifferentiation, we performed single cell RNA sequencing on AEC2s during regeneration in a murine model of lung injury induced by intratracheal LPS. Unsupervised clustering revealed distinct subpopulations of regenerating AEC2s: proliferating, cell cycle arrest, and transdifferentiating. Gene expression analysis of these transitional subpopulations revealed that TGFβ signaling was highly upregulated in the cell cycle arrest subpopulation and relatively downregulated in transdifferentiating cells. In cultured AEC2s, TGFβ was necessary for cell cycle arrest but impeded transdifferentiation. We conclude that during regeneration after LPS-induced lung injury, TGFβ is a critical signal halting AEC2 proliferation but must be inactivated to allow transdifferentiation. This study provides insight into the molecular mechanisms regulating alveolar regeneration and the pathogenesis of diseases resulting from a failure of regeneration.
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Project description:Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is diffuse parenchymal lung disorders characterized by varying degrees of inflammation and fibrosis of the lung interstitium. The failure of lung alveolar regeneration in IPF is critical for this incurable disease. Here we report that chronic lung injury causes a profibrotic phenotype of alveolar macrophages that release extracellular vehicles (EVs) to promote PF development through repressing the stemness traits of type 2 alveolar epithelial cells (AEC2s). We found that an increased expression of acetylases KAT5 interacts with and acetylates protein kinase MLKL, which directly promotes release of EVs from AMs following chronic lung injury. AEC2s takes up the EVs and releases miR-148a-3p to repress expression of endogenous b-catennin agonist Wnt10b and alveolar regeneration. Pharmacologic inhibition of the miR-148a-3p expression or interruption of the KAT5-MLKL interaction restores regenerative capacity of AEC2s and exhibits potent therapeutic efficacy against PF. Our study confers a potential strategy for the treatment of IPF and other interstitial lung diseases.
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Project description:Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and often fatal chronic respiratory disease thought to result from repetitive injury and failed repair of the lung alveoli, and recent studies have identified a number of disease-emergent intermediate/transitional cell states in the IPF lung supporting this concept. In this study, we found that persistent activation of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-signaling in airway-derived, repair-associated cell types/states is a hallmark of dysfunctional epithelial repair in the IPF lung epithelium and experimental models of recurrent lung epithelial injury. Disrupting Hif-signaling attenuated experimental lung fibrosis, reduced mucous-secretory cell polarization, and promoted functional alveolar regeneration following repetitive injury. Mouse and human organoid studies demonstrated that small-molecule-based HIF2 inhibition promoted alveolar epithelial cell proliferation and maturation while preventing the emergence of maladaptive intermediate/transitional states analogous to those in IPF. Together, these studies indicate that targeted HIF2-inhibition represents a novel and effective therapeutic strategy to promote functional lung regeneration, and could be readily translated into human studies of IPF and other chronic interstitial lung diseases with disease modifying effect.
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Project description:Gas exchange in the mammalian lung occurs in the alveolar sacs lined by epithelial cells that form a barrier allowing effective oxygen diffusion. Telomere syndromes have their most common manifestation in degenerative disease of the alveoli, both pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema. We tested the role of telomere dysfunction by inducing deletion of the telomere binding protein Trf2 in type 2 alveolar epithelial cells (AEC2s) that both express the gene encoding surfactant protein C and constitute the regenerative compartment of the alveolar epithelium. Acquired telomere dysfunction in these cells preferentially induced cellular senescence, and mouse lungs were marked by an inflammatory response even though the telomere dysfunction was restricted to the epithelium. Senescent AECs had altered gene expression that differentially fell in inflammatory cell signaling pathways. Bleomycin challenge was uniformly fatal, and Trf2-depleted cells failed to generate clonal alveolar colonies in vitro. The telomere dysfunction response in AEC2s was in part p53-dependent, and we found evidence of a p53-mediated paracrine survival signal to the mesenchyme. These data indicate that telomere dysfunction in the alveolar epithelium limits its regenerative capacity and is sufficient to induce inflammation. It may thus be a primary driving event in telomere-mediated lung disease. Efforts to restore epithelial regenerative capacity may be an effective approach in a subset of fibrosis and emphysema patients. We studied the gene expression changes in adult type II pneumocytes 7 days after deleting Trf2. Mice carried floxed allele of Trf2 and mTmG reporter allele. Type II pneumocytes were collected by FACs sorting GFP+ cells from lungs 7 days after administering tamoxifen. 6 total samples were analysed. Three were from control samples that were heterozygous for Trf2 and three samples had Trf2 deleted.
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2024-08-12 | GSE218386 | GEO
Project description:The successful repair of alveolar epithelial injury is required to restore the integrity of gas exchanging regions of the lung and preserve organ function. Severe pulmonary fibrosis is the result of repeated episodes of epithelial injury, activation of fibroblasts, and matrix accumulation. Thus, impaired alveolar epithelial progenitor cell renewal could contribute to the progression of fibrosis. We provide evidence that expression of TLR4 and hyaluronan (HA) on Type 2 alveolar epithelial cells (AEC2s) is necessary for self-renewal. Either deletion of TLR4 or HA synthase 2 leads to impaired regeneration of AEC2s, severe fibrosis and mortality, in part due to blunted production of IL-6. AEC2s from patients with pulmonary fibrosis have reduced cell surface HA, and impaired renewal capacity, suggesting that interactions between HA and TLR4 are key regulators of lung stem cell renewal, repair of lung injury and that severe pulmonary fibrosis is the result of epithelial stem cell failure. We used microarrays to detail the gene expression of AEC2 cells from WT and TLR4-/- mice.
2016-10-03 | GSE68704 | GEO
Project description:Following lung injury, alveolar regeneration is characterized by the transformation of alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells, via a transitional KRT8+ state, into alveolar type 1 (AT1) cells. In lung disease, dysfunctional intermediate cells accumulate, AT2 and AT1 cells are diminished and fibrosis occurs. Using single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) datasets of human interstitial lung disease, we found that Interleukin-11 (IL11) is specifically expressed in aberrant KRT8 expressing KRT5-/KRT17+ epithelial cells and basaloid cells. Stimulation of AT2 cells and distal airway epithelial cells with IL11 or TGFβ1 caused epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), induced extracellular matrix (ECM) production, increased KRT8 expression and stalled AT2-to-AT1 differentiation, with TGFβ1 effects being partially IL11 dependent. In bleomycin injured mouse lung, IL11 was increased in AT2-derived Krt8+ transitional cells and deletion of Il11ra1 in AT2 lineage cells prevented the accumulation of Krt8+ transitional cells, enhanced AT1 differentiation and promoted alveolar regeneration, which was replicated in therapeutic studies using anti-IL11 antibodies. scRNA-seq analysis of lung epithelial cells from mice with deletion of Il11ra1 in AT2 lineage cells further identified the importance of IL11 signaling for the potentiation and polarization of a disease-causing, ECM producing KRT8+ transitional cells that contributes to pathological lung remodeling. Overall, our data show that IL11 maintains damaged AT2 cells in a transitional state, impairs reparative AT1 differentiation and impairs endogenous alveolar regeneration to cause fibrotic lung disease.
2024-08-12 | GSE261793 | GEO
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a lethal interstitial lung disease causing alveolar remodeling, inflammation, and fibrosis. We utilized single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-Seq) to identify epithelial cell types and associated biological processes involved in the pathogenesis of IPF. Transcriptomic analysis of epithelial cells from normal human lung defined gene expression patterns associated with highly differentiated alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells, indicated by enrichment of RNAs critical for surfactant homeostasis. In contrast, scRNA-seq of IPF cells identified three distinct subsets of epithelial cell types with characteristics of conducting airway basal and goblet cells and, an additional atypical "transitional" cell that contribute to pathological processes in IPF. Individual IPF cells frequently co-expressed alveolar AT1, AT2, and conducting airway selective markers, demonstrating "indeterminate" states of differentiation not seen in normal lung development. Pathway analysis predicted aberrant activation of canonical signaling via TGF-ß, HIPPO/YAP, P53, and AKT-PI3 Kinase. Immunofluorescence confocal microscopy identified the disruption of alveolar structure and loss of the normal proximal-peripheral differentiation of pulmonary epithelial cells. Single cell transcriptomic analyses of respiratory epithelial cells identified loss of normal epithelial cell identities and unique contributions of epithelial cells to the pathogenesis of IPF. Present scRNA-seq transcriptomic analysis of normal and IPF respiratory epithelial cells provides a rich data source to further explore lung health and disease.
2017-02-06 | GSE94555 | GEO
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a lethal interstitial lung disease causing alveolar remodeling, inflammation, and fibrosis. We utilized single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-Seq) to identify epithelial cell types and associated biological processes involved in the pathogenesis of IPF. Transcriptomic analysis of epithelial cells from normal human lung defined gene expression patterns associated with highly differentiated alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells, indicated by enrichment of RNAs critical for surfactant homeostasis. In contrast, scRNA-seq of IPF cells identified three distinct subsets of epithelial cell types with characteristics of conducting airway basal and goblet cells and, an additional atypical "transitional" cell that contribute to pathological processes in IPF. Individual IPF cells frequently co-expressed alveolar AT1, AT2, and conducting airway selective markers, demonstrating "indeterminate" states of differentiation not seen in normal lung development. Pathway analysis predicted aberrant activation of canonical signaling via TGF-ß, HIPPO/YAP, P53, and AKT-PI3 Kinase. Immunofluorescence confocal microscopy identified the disruption of alveolar structure and loss of the normal proximal-peripheral differentiation of pulmonary epithelial cells. Single cell transcriptomic analyses of respiratory epithelial cells identified loss of normal epithelial cell identities and unique contributions of epithelial cells to the pathogenesis of IPF. Present scRNA-seq transcriptomic analysis of normal and IPF respiratory epithelial cells provides a rich data source to further explore lung health and disease.
2016-12-08 | GSE86618 | GEO
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2020-06-05 | PXD013006 | Pride