Airway-derived p63+ facultative progenitors contribute to alveolar regeneration after lung injury.
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ABSTRACT: Lung injury activates potential stem cells or progenitors for alveolar repair and regeneration. However, the activation program and source of injury-induced facultative progenitors remain incompletely known. Here, we find that lung injury induces emergence of p63-expressing progenitors, which rapidly proliferate and differentiate into alveolar type-1 (AT1) and type-2 (AT2) cells. scRNA-seq analysis uncovers that a subset of p63+ progenitors exhibit two distinct parallele transient stages before differentiation into mature AT1 and AT2 cells, respectively. Dual recombinases-mediated sequential genetic tracing reveals that facultative p63+ progenitors originate from the distal airway secretory cells and subsequently regenerate alveoli. Functioanlly, secretory cell-specific knockout of p63 significantly impairs their contribution to alveolar epithelium during lung regeneration. Our study identified secretory cell-derived facultative p63+ progenitors that contribute to alveolar regeneration, indicating a potential therapeutic target for lung treatment after injuires.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE225187 | GEO | 2023/02/20
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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