Project description:The unsurpassed simplicity of the fruitflyâs airway epithelium, that is made of homogenous epithelial cells only, favours its use as a model to study general features and response characteristics of airway epithelia in general. All epithelial cells are able to launch an immune response as characterized by the expression of antimicrobial peptide genes. Infection induces a complex change in the expression profile of these epithelial cells. Outstanding are a priming of the immune system and the launch of a survival program, presumably to counteract infection induced apoptotic signals, which comprises the concurrent expression of known longevity genes such as dFoxo, and dThor. In regions of the airway epithelium with strong immune reactions, a complex remodelling of the airways can be observed, which is characterized by metaplasia and presumably also by hyperplasia of the affected epithelial cells. At the transcriptional level, this reorganization of the airway epithelium is mirrored by a recapitulation of genetic programs that are characteristic for early phases of airway development. Taken together, the response characteristics of the flyâs airway epithelium towards infections discloses features that are known from inflammatory diseases of the human lung, thus opening the opportunity to study fundamental aspects of these diseases in the fly. Keywords:infection, Erwinia c., third instar larva, airway epithelium, two-colour microarray Infection of the airway epithelium by the gram-negativ bacteria Erwinia carotovora. For the infection experiments third instar larvae of the GFP-reporter strain YW DD1 were used and only isolated when the whole epithelium of the airway epithelium showed GFP expression. Uninfected larvae were used as controls. In general, four replicates were performed including dye-swaps. A table of significantly-regulated genes from the SAM-output and GeneTraffic-output has been linked as a supplementary file at the foot of this record.
Project description:The unsurpassed simplicity of the fruitfly’s airway epithelium, that is made of homogenous epithelial cells only, favours its use as a model to study general features and response characteristics of airway epithelia in general. All epithelial cells are able to launch an immune response as characterized by the expression of antimicrobial peptide genes. Infection induces a complex change in the expression profile of these epithelial cells. Outstanding are a priming of the immune system and the launch of a survival program, presumably to counteract infection induced apoptotic signals, which comprises the concurrent expression of known longevity genes such as dFoxo, and dThor. In regions of the airway epithelium with strong immune reactions, a complex remodelling of the airways can be observed, which is characterized by metaplasia and presumably also by hyperplasia of the affected epithelial cells. At the transcriptional level, this reorganization of the airway epithelium is mirrored by a recapitulation of genetic programs that are characteristic for early phases of airway development. Taken together, the response characteristics of the fly’s airway epithelium towards infections discloses features that are known from inflammatory diseases of the human lung, thus opening the opportunity to study fundamental aspects of these diseases in the fly. Keywords:infection, Erwinia c., third instar larva, airway epithelium, two-colour microarray
Project description:The unsurpassed simplicity of the fruitfly’s airway epithelium, that is made of homogenous epithelial cells only, favours its use as a model to study general features and response characteristics of airway epithelia in general. All epithelial cells are able to launch an immune response as characterized by the expression of antimicrobial peptide genes. Infection induces a complex change in the expression profile of these epithelial cells. Outstanding are a priming of the immune system and the launch of a survival program, presumably to counteract infection induced apoptotic signals, which comprises the concurrent expression of known longevity genes such as dFoxo, and dThor. In regions of the airway epithelium with strong immune reactions, a complex remodelling of the airways can be observed, which is characterized by metaplasia and presumably also by hyperplasia of the affected epithelial cells. At the transcriptional level, this reorganization of the airway epithelium is mirrored by a recapitulation of genetic programs that are characteristic for early phases of airway development. Taken together, the response characteristics of the fly’s airway epithelium towards infections discloses features that are known from inflammatory diseases of the human lung, thus opening the opportunity to study fundamental aspects of these diseases in the fly. Keywords: Ectopic activation of IMD, larval airways, third instar larvae, Gal4/UAS-system, two-colour microarrays
Project description:Despite being exposed to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection multiple times in our lives, infants, older-adults, and immunocompromised patients are vulnerable to RSV-associated severe diseases, such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia. Respiratory viral infections are known to promote pulmonary fibrosis formation, which are often associated with a cellular remodeling process epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, there is no information on whether RSV causes EMT in bronchial epithelial cells. Our results suggest that RSV-infection does not induce EMT in three different in vitro lung models: epithelial A549 cell line, primary normal human bronchial epithelial cells, and pseudostratified airway epithelium. Interestingly, RSV infection increased cell surface area and perimeter in the infected airway epithelium, which is distinct from the TGF-β1 driven cell elongation. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis also revealed that RSV infection is not involved in cell motility and locomotion. Thus, our results suggest that RSV infection does not induce EMT in the airway epithelium
Project description:We performed RNA-Seq of SARS-Cov-2 infection in human airway epithelium organoids. The organoids were infected with SARS-Cov-2 for 24hours or 48hours respectively, and compared with uninfected mock control.
Project description:Human airway epithelial cells cultured in vitro at air-liquid interface (ALI) form a pseudostratified epithelium that forms tight junctions and cilia, and produces mucin, and are widely used as a model of differentiation, injury, and repair. To assess how closely the transcriptome of ALI epithelium matches that of in vivo airway epithelial cells, we used microarrays to compare the transcriptome of human large airway epithelial cells cultured at ALI with the transcriptome of large airway epithelium obtained via bronchoscopy and brushing. Gene expression profiling showed global gene expression correlated well between ALI cells and brushed cells, but there were some differences. Gene expression patterns mirrored differences in proportions of cell types (ALI have higher percentages of basal cells, brushed cells have higher percentages of ciliated cells), with ALI cells expressing higher levels of basal cell-related genes and brushed cells expressing higher levels of cilia-related genes. Pathway analysis showed ALI cells had increased expression of cell cycle and proliferation genes, while brushed cells had increased expression of cytoskeletal organization and humoral immune response genes. Overall, ALI cells are a good representation of the in vivo airway epithelial transcriptome, but for some biologic questions, the differences in the in vitro vs in vivo environments need to be considered. Affymetrix arrays were used to assess the gene expression of large airway cells cultured in vitro at air-liquid interface (12 samples) and large airway epithelial cells obtained by fiberoptic bronchoscopy of 20 healthy nonsmokers. *** Air-liquid interface Samples not provided in this Series. ***
Project description:Although airway epithelia are primarily devoted to gas exchange, they have to fulfil a number of different tasks including organ maintenance and the epithelial immune response to fight airborne pathogens. These different tasks are at least partially accomplished by specialized cell types in the epithelium. In addition, a proximal to distal gradient mirroring the transition from airflow conduction to real gas exchange, is also operative. We analysed the airway system of larval Drosophila melanogaster with respect to region-specific expression in the proximal to distal axis. The larval airway system is made of epithelial cells only. Previously, it had been anticipated that these cells are very similar in their functional and transcript properties. We found differential expression between primary trunks of the airways and more distal ones comprising secondary and tertiary ones. Among these genes are especially those involved in signal transduction. A more detailed analysis was performed using DNA-microarray analyses to identify cohorts of genes that are either predominantly expressed in the primary or in the secondary/tertiary parts of the airways. Genes, including a putative mucin and the neuropeptide FMRFamide are predominantly found in primary branches, whereas the wnt- and the TGF-beta signalling pathways appear to be overrepresented in the secondary/tertiary ones. This differential expression is indicative for a proximal to distal transcriptional regionalization presumably reflecting functional differences in these parts of the flyM-bM-^@M-^Ys airway system. Trachea of wildtype L3 larvae were dissected and primary branches were processed seperately from secondary and tertiary branches. 3 biological replicates were included per group.
Project description:Human parechoviruses (HPeVs), a poorly studied genus within the Picornaviridae family, are classified into 19 genotypes of which HPeV1 and HPeV3 are the most often detected. HPeVs pathogenesis is poorly understood as there are no animal models and the previous studies have only been conducted in immortalized monolayer cell cultures which do not adequately represent the characteristics of human tissues. To bridge this gap, we determined the polarity of infection, replication kinetics, and cell tropism of HPeV1 and HPeV3 in the well-differentiated human airway epithelial (HAE) model. We found the HAE cultures to be permissive for HPeVs. We speculated that differences in the airway epithelium host response may contribute to the distinct clinical outcomes and performed transcriptome analyses to compare the HAE gene expression profiles induced by HPeV1 and HPeV3 infection. Transcriptional profiling suggested that HPeV3 infection induced stronger immune activation than HPeV1. The polarized entry and genotype-specific host responses may contribute to the differences into the pathogenesis and clinical outcomes associated with HPeV1 and HPeV3.
Project description:Background: Healthy individuals exposed to low levels of cigarette smoke have a decrement in lung function and higher risk for lung disease compared to unexposed individuals. We hypothesized that healthy individuals exposed to low levels of tobacco smoke must have biologic changes in the small airway epithelium compared to healthy unexposed individuals. Methods: Small airway epithelium was obtained by bronchoscopy from 121 individuals; microarrays assessed genome wide gene expression, and urine nicotine and cotinine were used to categorized subjects as “nonsmokers,” “active smokers,” and “low exposure.” The gene expression data was used to determine the threshold and ID50 of urine nicotine and cotinine at which the small airway epithelium showed abnormal responses. Results: There was no threshold of urine nicotine without an abnormal small airway epithelial response, and only a slightly above detectable threshold abnormal response for cotinine. The nicotine ID50 for nicotine was 25 ng/ml and cotinine 104 ng/ml. Conclusions: The small airway epithelium detects and responds to low levels of tobacco smoke with transcriptome modifications. This provides biologic correlates of epidemiologic studies linking low level tobacco smoke exposure to lung health risk, health, identifies genes in the lung cells most sensitive to tobacco smoke and defines thresholds at the lung epithelium responds to inhaled tobacco smoke. Affymetrix arrays were used to assess the gene expression data of smoking-responsive genes in the in small airway epithelium obtained by fiberoptic bronchoscopy of 48 healthy non-smokers (non-smoker or Nsaets), 65 healthy smokers (smoker), 7 symptomatic smokers (SYMs) and a healthy occasional smoker (OcSs). YSB and LO contributed equally to the study.