Project description:Progressive lung disease remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality of people with cystic fibrosis (CF). CF lung disease evolves from mucus obstruction into non-resolving airway inflammation, bronchiectasis, and damage that impairs respiratory and fitness activity. Therefore, therapeutic strategies that promote resolution of airway inflammation in CF to alleviate the burden of airflow obstruction and improve physical capacity are of wide interest. Here, we report that the proresolving lipid mediator resolvin (Rv) D1 halts mucus-driven inflammation in CF human cells and in vivo. RvD1 dampened migration and pathogenic phenotypes of neutrophils from volunteers with CF as well as inflammatory signaling pathways of CF bronchial epithelial cells triggered by CF mucus. In mice overexpressing the β-subunit of the epithelial Na+ channel (βENaC) RvD1 administration prevented and reverted lung inflammation caused by mucus accumulation and promoted the resolution of pulmonary exacerbation caused by P. aeruginosa. RvD1 also significantly improved physical activity and energy expenditure that are impaired in βENaC mice compared to wild type littermates. These findings demonstrate efficacy of RvD1 in enhancing resolution of lung disease and chronic inflammation associated with mucus obstruction and provide proof of concept for its potential therapeutic approach in FC.
Project description:Rationale: MicroRNAs have emerged as crucial post-transcriptional and network regulators in inflammatory diseases, including asthma. We hypothesized that peripheral blood miRNA would be associated with airflow obstruction in children with asthma, and that some of these effects would also be observable in adults with COPD. Methods: We analyzed small RNA-Seq data from 365 peripheral blood samples from the Genetics of Asthma in Costa Rica Study (GACRS). GACRS comprised children from the Central Valley of Costa Rica age 6-14 years with physician-diagnosed asthma and ≥2 respiratory symptoms or asthma attacks in the prior year. FEV1/FVC percent-predicted was dichotomized at 100%, splitting the cohort into those with and without evidence of airflow obstruction and used as our primary outcome. Differentially expressed (DE) miRs were identified using the DESeq2 package in R with a 10% FDR and adjustment for age, gender, and inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) use. We attempted to replicate the top airflow obstruction-associated microRNAs from the GACRS study in the COPDGene study, in which blood microRNA data were available in 439 current and former smoking adults with and without airflow obstruction (defined as raw FEV1/FVC < 0.7). Results: After QC, we had 361 samples and 649 miRs for DE analysis. Of the 361 samples, 220 and 141 were from subjects without and with airflow obstruction, respectively. We found 1 upregulated (let-7e-5p p=0.0004) and 2 downregulated (miR-342-3p p=0.0002; miR-671-5p p=0.0001) miRs in subjects with airflow obstruction compared to those without airflow obstruction. These three miRNAs were then tested for association with airflow obstruction in the COPDGene study, in which let-7e-5p was upregulated (p = 0.064) and miR-342-3p (p =0.085) was downregulated in participants with FEV1/FVC < 0.7 (n=196) compared to those with FEV1/FVC > 0.7 (n=243). Differentially expressed miR’s target genes were enriched for PI3K-Akt, Hippo, WNT, MAPK, and focal adhesion signaling pathways. We also separately considered the targets of only the two miRNAs that were also associated with FEV1/FVC in the adult current and former smokers, where PI3K-Akt, MAPK and Hippo signaling pathways were among the top five most enriched pathways. Conclusion: Three DE miRs were linked to airflow obstruction in children with asthma. Two miRs were associated with FEV1/FVC in current and former smoking adults. These miRs were involved in asthma and COPD-related pathways: PI3K-Akt, Hippo, MAPK, and focal adhesion signaling pathways. Together these findings provide important evidence that these two disorders may share genetic regulatory systems that contribute to airflow obstruction.
Project description:Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an independent risk factor for lung cancer, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are unknown. We hypothesized that lung stromal cells activate pathological gene expression programs supporting oncogenesis. To identify molecular mechanisms operating in the lung stroma that support development of lung cancer. Study subjects included patients with- or without- lung cancer across a spectrum of lung function. We conducted multi-omics analysis of non-malignant lung tissue to quantify the transcriptome, translatome and proteome. Cancer-associated gene expression changes predominantly manifested as alterations in the efficiency of mRNA translation modulating protein levels in the absence of corresponding changes in mRNA levels. The molecular mechanisms driving these cancer-associated translation programs differed based on lung function. In subjects with normal to mildly impaired lung-function, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway served as an upstream driver; whereas in severe airflow obstruction, pathways downstream of pathological extracellular matrix (ECM) emerged. Consistent with a role during cancer initiation, both the mTOR and ECM gene expression programs paralleled activation of previously identified pro-cancer secretomes. Furthermore, in situ examination of lung tissue documented that stromal fibroblasts express cancer-associated proteins from the two pro-cancer secretomes including IL6 in mild or no airflow obstruction and BMP1 in severe airflow obstruction. Two distinct stromal gene expression programs promoting cancer initiation are activated in lung cancer patients depending on lung function. Our work has implications both for screening strategies and personalized approaches to cancer treatment.
Project description:Non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis is a severe respiratory disease characterized by progressive loss of lung function, resulting in high morbidity and even early mortality. Current treatments cannot repair progressive lung damage, which encouraged the exploration of stem and progenitor cell-based regenerative therapies. In current study, we found that the P63+ progenitor cells normally located in airway basal layer could appear in the alveolar spaces of bronchiectasis patients. We successfully cloned and expanded the progenitor cells from the airway brushing tissues of patients. Then we conducted a randomized, single-blind, controlled, phase 1/2 trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of autologous P63+ progenitor cells transplantation in bronchiectasis patients.
Project description:Induced sputum is used to sample inflammatory cells, predominantly neutrophils and macrophages, from the airways of COPD patients. Our aim was to identify candidate genes associated with the degree of airflow obstruction and the extent of emphysema by expression profiling, and then to confirm these findings for selected candidates using specific PCR and protein analysis. Two sputum studies were performed in GOLD stage 2 -4 COPD ex-smokers from the ECLIPSE cohort. First, gene array profiling at baseline in 1480 patients was performed. At year 1, samples from a separate population of 176 patients were used for real-time PCR. The gene expression findings for IL-18R were further analysed using immunohistochemistry in lung tissue and induced sputum samples from patients outside the ECLIPSE cohort.
Project description:Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogenous disorder marked by small airway inflammation and distal airspace enlargement (emphysema) leading to progressive airflow obstruction and eventual respiratory failure. Current therapies are limited in their ability to halt the pathogenesis of COPD merely relieving symptoms of dyspnea and airflow limitation. Microvasculature dysfunction, an understudied area of investigation, is associated with the severity of COPD. However, it is not known if abnormal lung endothelium drives COPD pathology and/or if correcting endothelial dysfunction has therapeutic potential. Here, we show the centrality of specialized pulmonary endothelial cells to lung pathogenesis in an elastase-induced murine model of COPD. Airspace disease was marked by aberrant endothelial cell loss and dysfunction, which was rescued by intravenous delivery of healthy lung endothelial cells. Airspace injury triggered regulation of a distinct module of maladaptive endothelial transcripts comprising lost endothelial cell function. Endothelial leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein-1 (LRG1) was identified as a key driver of the emphysematous pathology and selective deletion of Lrg1 from endothelial cells rescued elastase-induced defects of pulmonary parenchymal destruction. Hence, targeting lung endothelial cell biology through regenerative methods and/or inhibition of the LRG1 pathway may represent novel therapeutic strategies of immense potential for the treatment of emphysema.
Project description:Induced sputum is used to sample inflammatory cells, predominantly neutrophils and macrophages, from the airways of COPD patients. Our aim was to identify candidate genes associated with the degree of airflow obstruction and the extent of emphysema by expression profiling, and then to confirm these findings for selected candidates using specific PCR and protein analysis.
Project description:In this dataset contains 3 cases of transcriptome information from 3 normal lung tissue, they respectively from lung squamous carcinoma tissue adjacent to carcinoma (C5), pneumonia lesions (C55) and lung bronchiectasis disease (C56), 6 cases from lung tissue samples of COVID - 19 patients (S528, S527, S59, S519, S52, S523).
Project description:Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory lung disease with complex pathological features and largely unknown etiologies. Identification and validation of biomarkers for this disease could facilitate earlier diagnosis, appreciation of disease subtypes and/or determination of response to therapeutic intervention. To identify gene expression markers for COPD, we performed genome-wide expression profiling of lung tissue from 56 subjects using the Affymetrix U133 Plus 2.0 array. Lung function measurements from these subjects ranged from normal, un-obstructed to severely obstructed. Analysis of differential expression between cases (FEV1<70%, FEV1/FVC<0.7) and controls (FEV1>80%, FEV1/FVC>0.7) identified a set of 65 probe sets representing discrete markers associated with COPD. Correlation of gene expression with quantitative measures of airflow obstruction (FEV1 or FEV1/FVC) identified a set of 220 probe sets. A total of 31 probe sets were identified that showed evidence of significant correlation with quantitative traits and differential expression between cases and controls. Keywords: Disease state marker