Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an untreatable fibrotic lung disease characterized by fibroblast proliferation and epithelial mesenchymal transition.miRNA let-7d and mir30b were found to be signifcantly down regulated in IPF. Compared to control we over expressed these miRNAs in Human Fetal Lung Fibroblast cell line
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an untreatable fibrotic lung disease characterized by fibroblast proliferation and epithelial mesenchymal transition.miRNA let-7d and mir30b were found to be signifcantly down regulated in IPF. Compared to control we over expressed these miRNAs in Human Fetal Lung Fibroblast cell line Fetal lung tissues were collected through the University of Pittsburgh Tissue Bank through approved IRB protocol 0506140. The samples were de-identified using an honest broker system and immediately transferred to the IRB exempt protocol PRO09040459 (PI: D. Carlisle). Total RNA was labeled with Cy3 and hybridized on Agilent 8X44K gene expression array (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA). After 17 hours hybridization, arrays were washed and scanned according to the manufacturer’s protocol.
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive, and usually lethal lung disease characterized by unknown causes and few treatment options We used microarray to determine the expression of miRNA and 17 miRNAs were differentially expressed in IPF lungs, including 10 upregulated and 7 downregulated miRNAs. Lung tissue was obtained from 4 IPF patients with histological evidence of usual interstitial pneumonia at the time of surgical lung biopsy or lung transplantation. The diagnosis of IPF was derived according to the standards accepted by the American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society. Histological normal lung tissues used as controls was obtained from 3 patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax at the time of thoracoscopy with stapling of any air leak.The miRNA expression profile was determined by Affymetrix microarray, and transcriptome with Affymetrix array
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive, and usually lethal lung disease characterized by unknown causes and few treatment options We used microarray to determine the expression of miRNA and 17 miRNAs were differentially expressed in IPF lungs, including 10 upregulated and 7 downregulated miRNAs.
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating disease with only three to five years of the median survival. Fibroblast proliferation is a hallmark of IPF as well as secretion of extracellular matrix proteins from fibroblasts. However, it is still uncertain how IPF fibroblasts acquire the ability to progressively proliferate. Periostin is a matricellular protein that is highly expressed in the lung tissues of IPF patients and plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. However, it remains undetermined whether periostin affects proliferation of lung fibroblasts. In this study, we first comprehensively tried to identify periostin-dependently expressed genes in lung fibroblasts finding that many cell-cycle–related genes are involved in the gene profile. We confirmed that periostin silencing downregulates expression of several cell-cycle–related molecules including the cyclin family, the CDK family, the E2F family, and the transcriptional factors such as B-MYB and FOXM1 in lung fibroblasts. Accordingly, periostin silencing slowed proliferation of lung fibroblasts and affects the distribution of cell cycle particularly at the G1/S checkpoint and drives the cells into G1 arrest. Lung fibroblasts derived from IPF patients also required periostin for maximum proliferation. Moreover, CP4715, a potent inhibitor against integrin V3, a periostin receptor, downregulated proliferation along with expression of cell-cycle–related genes in IPF lung fibroblasts as well as normal lung fibroblasts. These results demonstrate that periostin plays a critical role in proliferation of lung fibroblasts and provide us a beneficial basis to apply the inhibitors against the periostin/integrin V3 interaction to IPF patients.
Project description:As the fetal heart develops, cardiomyocyte proliferation potential decreases while fatty acid oxidative capacity increases, a highly regulated transition known as cardiac maturation. Small noncoding RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), contribute to the establishment and control of tissue-specific transcriptional programs. However, small RNA expression dynamics and genome wide miRNA regulatory networks controlling maturation of the human fetal heart remain poorly understood. Transcriptome profiling of small RNAs revealed the temporal expression patterns of miRNA, piRNA, circRNA, snoRNA, snRNA and tRNA in the developing human heart between 8 and 19 weeks of gestation. Our analysis revealed that miRNAs were the most dynamically expressed small RNA species throughout mid-gestation. Cross-referencing differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs predicted 6,200 mRNA targets, 2134 of which were upregulated and 4066 downregulated as gestation progresses. Moreover, we found that downregulated targets of upregulated miRNAs predominantly control cell cycle progression, while upregulated targets of downregulated miRNAs are linked to energy sensing and oxidative metabolism. Furthermore, integration of miRNA and mRNA profiles with proteomes and reporter metabolites revealed that proteins encoded in mRNA targets, and their associated metabolites, mediate fatty acid oxidation and are enriched as the heart develops.This study revealed the small RNAome of the maturing human fetal heart. Furthermore, our findings suggest that coordinated activation and repression of miRNA expression throughout mid-gestation is essential to establish a dynamic miRNA-mRNA-protein network that decreases cardiomyocyte proliferation potential while increasing the oxidative capacity of the maturing human fetal heart.
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the prototypic progressive fibrotic lung disease with a median survival of 2-4 years. Injury to and/or dysfunction of alveolar epithelium are strongly implicated in IPF disease initiation, but what factors determine why fibrosis progresses rather than normal tissue repair occurs remain poorly understood. We previously demonstrated that ZEB1-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in human alveolar epithelial type II (ATII) cells augments TGF-β-induced profibrogenic responses in underlying lung fibroblasts by paracrine signalling. Here we investigated bi-directional epithelial-mesenchymal crosstalk and its potential to drive fibrosis progression. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of lung fibroblasts exposed to conditioned media from ATII cells undergoing RAS-induced EMT identified many differentially expressed genes including those involved in cell migration and extracellular matrix (ECM) regulation. We confirmed that paracrine signalling between AS-activated ATII cells and fibroblasts augmented fibroblast recruitment and demonstrated that this involved a ZEB1-tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) axis. In a reciprocal fashion, paracrine signalling from TGF-β-activated lung fibroblasts or IPF fibroblasts induced RAS activation in ATII cells, at least partially via the secreted protein, SPARC. Together these data identify that aberrant bi-directional epithelial-mesenchymal crosstalk in IPF drives a chronic feedback loop that maintains a wound-healing phenotype and provides self-sustaining pro-fibrotic signals.
Project description:Aberrant expression of master phenotype regulators by lung fibroblasts may play a central role in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Interrogating IPF fibroblast transcriptome datasets, we identified Forkhead Box F1 (FOXF1), a DNA-binding protein required for lung development, as a candidate actor in IPF. Thus, we determined FOXF1 expression levels in fibroblasts cultured from normal or IPF lungs in vitro, and explored FOXF1 functions in these cells using transient and stable loss-of-function and gain-of-function models. FOXF1 mRNA and protein were expressed at higher levels in IPF compared with controls. In normal lung fibroblasts, FOXF1 repressed key fibroblast functions such as proliferation, survival, and expression of collagen-1 (COL1) and actin related protein 2/3 complex, subunit 2 (ARPC2). ARPC2 knockdown mimicked FOXF1 overexpression with regard to proliferation and COL1 expression. FOXF1 expression was induced by the antifibrotic mediator prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Ex vivo, FOXF1 knockdown conferred CCL-210 lung fibroblasts the ability to implant and survive in uninjured mouse lungs. In IPF lung fibroblasts, FOXF1 regulated COL1 but not ARPC2 expression. In conclusion, FOXF1 functions and regulation were consistent with an antifibrotic role in lung fibroblasts. Higher FOXF1 levels in IPF fibroblasts may thus participate in a compensatory response to fibrogenesis. Lung fibroblasts derived from 4 different IPF patients (P313, P355, P375 and P426) were transiently transfected with pcfoxf1 or control pcDNA3.1-constructs. Total RNAs were extracted 24 h after transfection and hybridized on microarrays. One color experiment with 2 experimental conditions: pcfoxf1 and pcDNA3.1
Project description:Aberrant expansion of KRT5+ basal cells in the distal lung accompanies progressive alveolar epithelial cell loss and tissue remodelling during fibrogenesis in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The mechanisms determining activity of KRT5+ cells in IPF have not been delineated. Here, we show an association between KRT5+ cells in human fibrotic lung and regional differences in collagen topography. In vitro, KRT5+ cell migratory characteristics and expression of remodelling genes are modulated by extracellular matrix (ECM) composition and organisation. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics revealed compositional differences in the matrisome secreted by primary human lung fibroblasts (HLF) from IPF patients compared to controls. Over-expression of ECM glycoprotein, Secreted Protein Acidic and Cysteine Rich (SPARC) in the IPF HLF matrisome restricts KRT5+ cell migration in vitro. Together, our findings demonstrate that changes to the ECM in IPF directly influence KRT5+ cell behaviour and function contributing to remodelling events in the fibrotic niche.
Project description:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is associated with the accumulation of collagen-secreting fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in the lung parenchyma. Many mechanisms contribute to their accumulation, including resistance to apoptosis. In previous work, we showed that exposure to the pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α and IFN-γ reverses fibroblast resistance to apoptosis. The goal of this study was to investigate the underlying mechanism. Based on an initial interrogation of the transcriptomes of unstimulated and TNF-α and IFN-γ-stimulated primary lung fibroblasts and the lung fibroblast cell line, MRC5, we show here that among Fas-signaling pathway molecules, Fas expression was increased ~6-fold in an NF-κB and p38mapk-dependent fashion. Prevention of the increase in Fas expression using Fas siRNAs blocked the ability of TNF-α and IFN-γ to sensitize fibroblasts to Fas ligation induced-apoptosis; while enforced adenovirus-mediated Fas overexpression was sufficient to overcome basal resistance to Fas-induced apoptosis. Examination of lung tissues from IPF patients revealed low to absent staining of Fas in fibroblastic cells of fibroblast foci. Collectively, these findings suggest that increased expression of Fas is necessary and sufficient to overcome the resistance of lung fibroblasts to Fas-induced apoptosis. They also suggest that approaches aimed at increasing Fas expression by lung fibroblasts and myofibroblasts may be therapeutically relevant. To investigate the mechanism by which TNF-α and IFN-γ reprogram fibroblasts from resistance to sensitivity to Fas-ligation-induce apoptosis, we exposed human primary lung fibroblasts from an IPF patient (FS087) and non-disease control subject (N78) and the human fetal lung fibroblast cell lung (MRC-5) to TNF-α (10 ng/ml) and IFN-γ (50 U/ml) for 36 hr and analyzed changes in their transcriptomes using Affymetrix microarrays.