Spatially-resolved gene expression patterns of fibrosing ILDs [RNA-Seq]
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ABSTRACT: Fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) encompass a diverse range of scarring disorders that lead to progressive lung failure. Previous gene expression profiling studies focused on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and bulk tissue samples. We employed digital spatial profiling to gain new insights into the spatial resolution of gene expression across distinct lung microenvironments (LMEs) in IPF, chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (CHP) and non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP). We identified differentially expressed genes between LMEs within each condition, and across histologically similar regions between conditions. Uninvolved areas in IPF and CHP were remarkably distinct from normal controls, and displayed potential therapeutic targets. Hallmarks LMEs of each condition retained a distinct gene signature, but these could not be reproduced in matched lung tissue samples. Based on these gene expression signatures and unsupervised clustering, we grouped previously unclassified ILD cases into NSIP or CHP. Lastly, we characterized a gene expression pattern associated with poor outcome . Overall, our work uniquely dissects gene expression profiles between LMEs within and across different types of fibrosing ILDs. This new spatial transcriptomics approach has the potential to reclassify unclassifiable cases, to qualify the transcriptional relevance of smaller biopsies for clinical use, and to predict outcome at the time of diagnosis.
Project description:Fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) encompass a diverse range of scarring disorders that lead to progressive lung failure. Previous gene expression profiling studies focused on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and bulk tissue samples. We employed digital spatial profiling to gain new insights into the spatial resolution of gene expression across distinct lung microenvironments (LMEs) in IPF, chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (CHP) and non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP). We identified differentially expressed genes between LMEs within each condition, and across histologically similar regions between conditions. Uninvolved areas in IPF and CHP were remarkably distinct from normal controls, and displayed potential therapeutic targets. Hallmarks LMEs of each condition retained a distinct gene signature, but these could not be reproduced in matched lung tissue samples. Based on these gene expression signatures and unsupervised clustering, we grouped previously unclassified ILD cases into NSIP or CHP. Lastly, we characterized a gene expression pattern associated with poor outcome . Overall, our work uniquely dissects gene expression profiles between LMEs within and across different types of fibrosing ILDs. This new spatial transcriptomics approach has the potential to reclassify unclassifiable cases, to qualify the transcriptional relevance of smaller biopsies for clinical use, and to predict outcome at the time of diagnosis.
Project description:The mechanisms and molecular pathways underlying interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are poorly understood. Systems biology approaches were used to identify perturbed networks in these disease states to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease. Through profiling genes and miRNAs, we found subsets of genes and miRNAs that distinguish different disease stages, ILDs from controls, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) from non-specific interstitial pneumonitis (NSIP). Traditional pathway analysis revealed several disease-associated modules involving genes from the TGF-beta, Wnt, focal adhesion and smooth muscle actin pathways that may be involved in advancing fibrosis. A comprehensively integrative approach was used to construct a global gene regulatory network based on the perturbation of key regulatory elements, transcriptional factors and miRNAs. The data also demonstrated that several subnetworks were significantly associated with key molecules involved in the diseases. We present a broad overview of the disease at a molecular level and discuss several possibly key regulatory molecular circuits that could play central roles in facilitating the progression of ILDs. Lung tissue samples from 23 patients with IPF or related disorders were obtained from the Lung Tissue Research Consortium (www.ltrcpublic.org). 11 samples came from patients who had been diagnosed with usual interstitial pneumonia/ idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (UIP/IPF), 5 samples came from patients with non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), the remaining from patients with uncharacterized fibrosis and from patients with other ILD variants. B. Biopsies from uninvolved lung tissue from lung cancer patients (5 samples) and from one lung transplant patient were used as controls for comparison with the ILD samples.
Project description:The mechanisms and molecular pathways underlying interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are poorly understood. Systems biology approaches were used to identify perturbed networks in these disease states to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease. Through profiling genes and miRNAs, we found subsets of genes and miRNAs that distinguish different disease stages, ILDs from controls, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) from non-specific interstitial pneumonitis (NSIP). Traditional pathway analysis revealed several disease-associated modules involving genes from the TGF-beta, Wnt, focal adhesion and smooth muscle actin pathways that may be involved in advancing fibrosis. A comprehensively integrative approach was used to construct a global gene regulatory network based on the perturbation of key regulatory elements, transcriptional factors and miRNAs. The data also demonstrated that several subnetworks were significantly associated with key molecules involved in the diseases. We present a broad overview of the disease at a molecular level and discuss several possibly key regulatory molecular circuits that could play central roles in facilitating the progression of ILDs. Lung tissue samples from thirty patients with IPF or related disorders were obtained from the Lung Tissue Research Consortium (www.ltrcpublic.org). Ten samples came from patients who had been diagnosed with usual interstitial pneumonia/ idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (UIP/IPF), nine samples came from patients with non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), four from patients with uncharacterized fibrosis, and the remaining samples came from patients with other ILD variants. Biopsies from uninvolved lung tissue from lung cancer patients (5 samples) and from one lung transplant patient were used as controls for comparison with the ILD samples.
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) are the 2 most common forms of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia. Response to therapy and prognosis are remarkably different. The clinical-radiographic distinction between IPF and NSIP may be challenging. We sought to investigate the gene expression profile of IPF vs. NSIP We used microarray to identifiy the gene expression profiles in patients with IPF and NSIP, mixed IPF/NSIP histologic pattern and normal controls.
Project description:The mechanisms and molecular pathways underlying interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are poorly understood. Systems biology approaches were used to identify perturbed networks in these disease states to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease. Through profiling genes and miRNAs, we found subsets of genes and miRNAs that distinguish different disease stages, ILDs from controls, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) from non-specific interstitial pneumonitis (NSIP). Traditional pathway analysis revealed several disease-associated modules involving genes from the TGF-beta, Wnt, focal adhesion and smooth muscle actin pathways that may be involved in advancing fibrosis. A comprehensively integrative approach was used to construct a global gene regulatory network based on the perturbation of key regulatory elements, transcriptional factors and miRNAs. The data also demonstrated that several subnetworks were significantly associated with key molecules involved in the diseases. We present a broad overview of the disease at a molecular level and discuss several possibly key regulatory molecular circuits that could play central roles in facilitating the progression of ILDs.
Project description:The mechanisms and molecular pathways underlying interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are poorly understood. Systems biology approaches were used to identify perturbed networks in these disease states to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease. Through profiling genes and miRNAs, we found subsets of genes and miRNAs that distinguish different disease stages, ILDs from controls, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) from non-specific interstitial pneumonitis (NSIP). Traditional pathway analysis revealed several disease-associated modules involving genes from the TGF-beta, Wnt, focal adhesion and smooth muscle actin pathways that may be involved in advancing fibrosis. A comprehensively integrative approach was used to construct a global gene regulatory network based on the perturbation of key regulatory elements, transcriptional factors and miRNAs. The data also demonstrated that several subnetworks were significantly associated with key molecules involved in the diseases. We present a broad overview of the disease at a molecular level and discuss several possibly key regulatory molecular circuits that could play central roles in facilitating the progression of ILDs.
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic and progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease that is unresponsive to current therapy. While it carries a median survival of less than 3 years its rate of progression varies widely between patients. We hypothesized that studying the gene expression profiles of physiologically stable patients and those in which the disease progressed rapidly after the initial diagnosis would aid in the search for biomarkers and contribute to the understanding of disease pathogenesis. We generated 12 Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) lung parenchyma SAGE profiles. Initial cluster analysis including 8 other public available lung SAGE libraries verified that the IPF transcriptome is distinct from normal lung tissue and other lung diseases like COPD. In order to identify candidate markers of disease progression we segregated the IPF SAGE profiles in two groups based on clinical parameters regarding lung volume and lung function.
Project description:Chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (CHP) is caused by an immune response to antigen inhalation and is characterized by variable histopathological and clinical features. A subset of CHP subjects have usual interstitial pneumonia and appear to be clinically similar to subjects with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). However, the molecular relationship between CHP and IPF is not well understood. We report an RNA-seq based transcriptomic analysis for whole lung tissues from CHP, IPF and control subjects.
Project description:Pulmonary fibrosis includes a variety of underlying causes of fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). Pulmonary fibrosis is usually considered to be related to chronic inflammation of lung tissue and excessive proliferation of fibroblasts, however, the mechanism is complex and unclear.To study the underlying molecular mechanisms, we further applied high-throughput sequencing to analyze the differentially expressed genes in rat lung tissues induced by Bleomycin.
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a specific form of chronic progressive fibrosing interstitial pneumonia leading to progressive dyspnea and finally death.The classic diagnosis of IPF is based on the histological pattern of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP).we have no information about the molecular events that characterize the progression of IPF in the human lung. Understanding the molecular changes that characterize the progression of IPF from early, through progressive changes and into end-stage would allow development of therapeutic strategies that address the disease in all of its stages.In this study we applied a systems biology approach to model dynamic molecular changes during the progression of IPF in the human lung by using a unique resource of carefully characterized, differentially affected regions in human lungs.