Project description:RNA sequencing was performed on uninjured, and injured (FSP1, and aSMA expressing) fibroblasts from mice hearts. Fibrosis accompanying wound healing can drive the failure of many different organs. Activated fibroblasts are the principal determinants of post-injury pathological fibrosis as well as physiological repair, making them a difficult therapeutic target. Fibroblasts are a heterogeneous cell population lacking unique functional classification. We demonstrated that FSP1 and αSMA expressing cells are distinct, post-injury fibroblasts in the heart, kidney, and skin and exhibit unique temporal expression patterns. Using mice that express GFP under the FSP1 or αSMA promoters, we isolated these fibroblasts from mouse hearts after myocardial infarction. Protein and transcript arrays, cellular assays as well as in vivo granulation tissue formation were used to determine their functional role(s) in healing and fibrosis. Whereas αSMA+ fibroblasts predominated in producing matrix proteins, FSP1+ fibroblasts significantly promoted angiogenesis. These studies have the potential to shift our focus towards viewing fibroblasts not only molecularly but also as functionally heterogeneous and provide a new paradigm with which to approach treatment for organ fibrosis.
Project description:Fibrosis accompanying wound healing can drive the failure of many different organs. Activated fibroblasts are the principal determinants of post-injury pathological fibrosis along with physiological repair, making them a difficult therapeutic target. Although activated fibroblasts are phenotypically heterogeneous, they are not recognized as distinct functional entities. Using mice that express GFP under the FSP1 or αSMA promoter, we characterized two non-overlapping fibroblast subtypes from mouse hearts after myocardial infarction. Here, we report the identification of FSP1-GFP+ cells as a non-pericyte, non-hematopoietic fibroblast subpopulation with a predominant pro-angiogenic role, characterized by in vitro phenotypic/cellular/ultrastructural studies and in vivo granulation tissue formation assays combined with transcriptomics and proteomics. This work identifies a fibroblast subtype that is functionally distinct from the pro-fibrotic αSMA-expressing myofibroblast subtype. Our study has the potential to shift our focus towards viewing fibroblasts as molecularly and functionally heterogeneous and provides a paradigm to approach treatment for organ fibrosis.
Project description:Impaired skin wound healing is a significant global health issue, especially among the elderly. Wound healing is a well-orchestrated process involving the sequential phases of inflammation, proliferation, and tissue remodeling. Although wound healing is a highly dynamic and energy-requiring process, the role of metabolism remains largely unexplored. By combining transcriptomics and metabolomics of human skin biopsy samples, we mapped the core bioenergetic and metabolic changes in normal acute as well as chronic wounds in elderly subjects. We found upregulation of glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, glutaminolysis, and β-oxidation in the later stages of acute wound healing and in chronic wounds. To ascertain the role of these metabolic pathways on wound healing, we targeted each pathway in a wound healing assay as well as in a human skin explant model using metabolic inhibitors and stimulants. Enhancement or inhibition of glycolysis and, to a lesser extent, glutaminolysis had a far greater impact on wound healing than similar manipulations of oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid β-oxidation. These findings increase the understanding of wound metabolism and identify glycolysis and glutaminolysis as potential targets for therapeutic intervention.
Project description:<p>The vasculature represents a highly plastic compartment, capable of switching from a quiescent to an active proliferative state during angiogenesis. Metabolic reprogramming in endothelial cells (ECs) thereby is crucial to cover the increasing cellular energy demand under growth conditions. Here we assess the impact of mitochondrial bioenergetics on neovascularisation, by deleting cox10 gene encoding an assembly factor of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) specifically in mouse ECs, providing a model for vasculature-restricted respiratory deficiency. We show that EC-specific cox10 ablation results in deficient vascular development causing embryonic lethality. In adult mice induction of EC-specific cox10 gene deletion produces no overt phenotype. However, the angiogenic capacity of COX-deficient ECs is severely compromised under energetically demanding conditions, as revealed by significantly delayed wound-healing and impaired tumour growth. We provide genetic evidence for a requirement of mitochondrial respiration in vascular endothelial cells for neoangiogenesis during development, tissue repair and cancer. </p>
Project description:The process of wound healing in humans is poorly understood. To identify spatiotemporal gene expression patterns during human wound healing, we performed single cell and spatial transcriptomics profiling of human in vivo wound samples.
Project description:Urinary bladder wound healing is today pooorly chracterized. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules with regulatory functions. In this study we aimed at identifying microRNAs expressed during bladder wound healing. We performed Affymetrix microRNA profiling of the rodent urinary bladder during healing of a surgically created wound.
Project description:The process of wound healing in humans is poorly understood. To identify spatiotemporal gene expression patterns during human wound healing, we performed spatial transcriptomics profiling of human in vivo wound samples.
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.