Project description:Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are one of the major complications in type II diabetes patients and can result in amputation and morbidity. Although multiple approaches are used clinically to help wound closure, many patients still lack adequate treatment. Here we show that IL-20 subfamily cytokines are upregulated during normal wound healing. While there is a redundant role for each individual cytokine in this subfamily in wound healing, mice deficient in IL-22R, the common receptor chain for IL-20, IL-22, and IL-24, display a significant delay in wound healing. Furthermore, IL-20, IL-22 and IL-24 are all able to promote wound healing in type II diabetic db/db mice. When compared to other growth factors such as VEGF and PDGF that accelerate wound healing in this model, IL-22 uniquely induced genes involved in reepithelialization, tissue remodeling and innate host defense mechanisms from wounded skin. Interestingly, IL-22 treatment showed superior efficacy compared to PDGF or VEGF in an infectious diabetic wound model. Taken together, our data suggest that IL-20 subfamily cytokines, particularly IL-20, IL-22, and IL-24, might provide therapeutic benefit for patients with DFU.
Project description:STAT3 is a pleiotropic transcription factor with important functions in cytokine signalling in a variety of tissues. However, the role of STAT3 in the intestinal epithelium is not well understood. Here we demonstrate that development of colonic inflammation is associated with the induction of STAT3 activity in intestinal epithelial cells (IEC). Studies in genetically engineered mice showed that epithelial STAT3 activation in DSS colitis is dependent on IL-22 rather than IL-6. IL-22 was secreted by colonic CD11c+ cells in response to Toll-like receptor stimulation. Conditional knockout mice with an IEC specific deletion of STAT3 activity were highly susceptible to experimental colitis, indicating that epithelial STAT3 regulates gut homeostasis. STAT3IEC-KO mice, upon induction of colitis, showed a striking defect of epithelial restitution. Gene chip analysis indicated that STAT3 regulates the cellular stress response, apoptosis and pathways associated with wound healing in IEC. Consistently, both IL-22 and epithelial STAT3 were found to be important in wound-healing experiments in vivo. In summary, our data suggest that intestinal epithelial STAT3 activation regulates immune homeostasis in the gut by promoting IL-22-dependent mucosal wound healing. 4 samples of colon epithelium were analyzed from 4 mice (2 per group Stat3flfl VillinCre- and Stat3flfl VillinCre+, respectively) after they had been treated with DSS (2.5%) for 5 days
Project description:STAT3 is a pleiotropic transcription factor with important functions in cytokine signalling in a variety of tissues. However, the role of STAT3 in the intestinal epithelium is not well understood. Here we demonstrate that development of colonic inflammation is associated with the induction of STAT3 activity in intestinal epithelial cells (IEC). Studies in genetically engineered mice showed that epithelial STAT3 activation in DSS colitis is dependent on IL-22 rather than IL-6. IL-22 was secreted by colonic CD11c+ cells in response to Toll-like receptor stimulation. Conditional knockout mice with an IEC specific deletion of STAT3 activity were highly susceptible to experimental colitis, indicating that epithelial STAT3 regulates gut homeostasis. STAT3IEC-KO mice, upon induction of colitis, showed a striking defect of epithelial restitution. Gene chip analysis indicated that STAT3 regulates the cellular stress response, apoptosis and pathways associated with wound healing in IEC. Consistently, both IL-22 and epithelial STAT3 were found to be important in wound-healing experiments in vivo. In summary, our data suggest that intestinal epithelial STAT3 activation regulates immune homeostasis in the gut by promoting IL-22-dependent mucosal wound healing.
Project description:IBD is a complex autoimmune disease characterized by dysregulated interactions between host immune responses and microbiome at the intestinal epithelium interface. Here we identified shared protein alterations in intestinal epithelial differentiation and function between IBD and Citrobacter rodentium infected FVB mice. We discovered that prophylactic treatment with the mucosal healing therapy IL-22.Fc in the infected FVB mice reduced disease severity and rescued the mice from lethality. Notably, we observed an emergence of intermediate undifferentiated intestinal epithelial cells upon infection, with disrupted expression of the solute transporter machinery as well as components critical for intestinal barrier integrity. Multi-omics analyses revealed that with IL-22.Fc treatment several disease associated changes were prevented (including disruption of the solute transporter machinery), and proper physiological homeostatic functions of the intestine was restored. Taken together, we unveiled the disease relevance of the C. rodentium induced colitis model to IBD and demonstrated the protective role of the mucosal healing therapy IL-22.Fc in ameliorating the epithelial dysfunction.
Project description:Adalimumab, but neither etanercept nor certolizumab-pegol, has been reported to induce a wound healing profile in the circulation of patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a chronic inflammatory skin disease. However, the role of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) inhibitors in cutaneous wound healing in vivo is still unclear. To examine and compare the efficacy of various TNF inhibitors in cutaneous wound healing in vivo, a human TNF knock-in Leprdb/db mouse model was established to model the impaired cutaneous wound healing as seen in HS. The vehicle group exhibited severe impairments in cutaneous wound healing. In contrast, adalimumab significantly accelerated healing, confirmed by both histologic assessment and a unique healing transcriptional profile. Moreover, adalimumab and infliximab showed similar levels of efficacy, but golimumab was less effective, along with etanercept and certolizumab-pegol. In line with histologic assessments, proteomics analyses from healing wounds exposed to various TNF inhibitors revealed distinct and differential wound healing signatures that may underlie the differential efficacy of these inhibitors in accelerating cutaneous wound healing. Taken together, these data revealed that TNF inhibitors exhibited differential levels of efficacy in accelerating cutaneous wound healing in the impaired wound healing model in vivo likely through distinct mechanisms of action related to the structure of the biologic or its ability to bind TNF.
Project description:Acomys exhibits a blunted immune response to wounding, and shares characteristics with fetal wound healing We used mouse microarrays to compare gene expression profiles during wound healing between the African spiny mouse (Acomys) and the house mouse (Mus)
Project description:IL-22 acts on epithelial cells and has been shown to induce tissue protective and wound healing responses in these cells. But it has recently been decribed that IL-22 exacerbates ileatis after infection with T. gondii. The goal of the study is to identify the IL-22-dependent genes during T. gondii infection in order to understand why IL-22 is pathogenic in this context. one experimental condition, 5 mice per group, 2 groups: WT and IL-22 KO animals
Project description:Skin wound healing is one of the major prevalent medical problems in the worldwide. Wound healing involves multi-process synergy and re-epithelialization is an essential part of wound healing. Histone H3K36 tri-methylase Setd2 has been extensively studied in different biological processes and diseases. However, the function of Setd2 in the wound healing remains unclear. To elucidate the biological role of Setd2 in the skin wound healing, conditional gene targeting was employed to establish epidermis-specific Setd2-deficient mice. We found that Setd2 deficiency resulted in accelerated re-epithelialization during cutaneous wound healing by promoting keratinocytes proliferation and migration. Furthermore, we demonstrated that loss of Setd2 activated the AKT/mTOR pathway, and pharmacological inhibitions of AKT and mTOR with MK2206 and rapamycin delayed wound closure, respectively. In conclusion, our results reveal the essential role of Setd2 in skin wound healing that is Setd2 loss promotes cutaneous wound healing via activation of AKT/mTOR signaling.
Project description:IL-22 acts on epithelial cells and has been shown to induce tissue protective and wound healing responses in these cells. But it has recently been decribed that IL-22 exacerbates ileatis after infection with T. gondii. The goal of the study is to identify the IL-22-dependent genes during T. gondii infection in order to understand why IL-22 is pathogenic in this context.