RESUMO
Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) can quickly switch from a quiescent state to an active state and rapidly produce effector molecules that provide critical early immune protection. How the post-transcriptional machinery processes different stimuli and initiates robust gene expression in ILCs is poorly understood. Here, we show that deletion of the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) writer protein METTL3 has little impact on ILC homeostasis or cytokine-induced ILC1 or ILC3 responses but significantly diminishes ILC2 proliferation, migration and effector cytokine production and results in impaired antihelminth immunity. m6A RNA modification supports an increase in cell size and transcriptional activity in activated ILC2s but not in ILC1s or ILC3s. Among other transcripts, the gene encoding the transcription factor GATA3 is highly m6A methylated in ILC2s. Targeted m6A demethylation destabilizes nascent Gata3 mRNA and abolishes the upregulation of GATA3 and ILC2 activation. Our study suggests a lineage-specific requirement of m6A for ILC2 responses.
Assuntos
Imunidade Inata , Linfócitos , Citocinas/metabolismo , Homeostase , Imunidade Inata/genética , Imunidade Inata/imunologia , Linfócitos/imunologia , RNA/metabolismo , Animais , CamundongosRESUMO
Respiratory failure is the leading cause of death in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection1,2, but the host response at the lung tissue level is poorly understood. Here we performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing of about 116,000 nuclei from the lungs of nineteen individuals who died of COVID-19 and underwent rapid autopsy and seven control individuals. Integrated analyses identified substantial alterations in cellular composition, transcriptional cell states, and cell-to-cell interactions, thereby providing insight into the biology of lethal COVID-19. The lungs from individuals with COVID-19 were highly inflamed, with dense infiltration of aberrantly activated monocyte-derived macrophages and alveolar macrophages, but had impaired T cell responses. Monocyte/macrophage-derived interleukin-1ß and epithelial cell-derived interleukin-6 were unique features of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to other viral and bacterial causes of pneumonia. Alveolar type 2 cells adopted an inflammation-associated transient progenitor cell state and failed to undergo full transition into alveolar type 1 cells, resulting in impaired lung regeneration. Furthermore, we identified expansion of recently described CTHRC1+ pathological fibroblasts3 contributing to rapidly ensuing pulmonary fibrosis in COVID-19. Inference of protein activity and ligand-receptor interactions identified putative drug targets to disrupt deleterious circuits. This atlas enables the dissection of lethal COVID-19, may inform our understanding of long-term complications of COVID-19 survivors, and provides an important resource for therapeutic development.
Assuntos
COVID-19/patologia , COVID-19/virologia , Pulmão/patologia , SARS-CoV-2/patogenicidade , Análise de Célula Única , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Células Epiteliais Alveolares/patologia , Células Epiteliais Alveolares/virologia , Atlas como Assunto , Autopsia , COVID-19/imunologia , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Feminino , Fibroblastos/patologia , Fibrose/patologia , Fibrose/virologia , Humanos , Inflamação/patologia , Inflamação/virologia , Macrófagos/patologia , Macrófagos/virologia , Macrófagos Alveolares/patologia , Macrófagos Alveolares/virologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Plasmócitos/imunologia , Linfócitos T/imunologiaRESUMO
Alveologenesis requires the coordinated modulation of the epithelial and mesenchymal compartments to generate mature alveolar saccules for efficient gas exchange. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the epithelial-mesenchymal interaction during alveologenesis are poorly understood. Here, we report that Wnts produced by epithelial cells are crucial for neonatal alveologenesis. Deletion of the Wnt chaperone protein Wntless homolog (Wls) disrupts alveolar formation, resulting in enlarged saccules in Sftpc-Cre/Nkx2.1-Cre; Wlsloxp/loxp mutants. Although commitment of the alveolar epithelium is unaffected, α-SMA+ mesenchymal cells persist in the alveoli, accompanied by increased collagen deposition, and mutants exhibit exacerbated fibrosis following bleomycin challenge. Notably, α-SMA+ cells include a significant number of endothelial cells resembling endothelial to mesenchymal transition (EndMT), which is also present in Ager-CreER; Wlsloxp/loxp mutants following early postnatal Wls deletion. These findings provide initial evidence that epithelial-derived Wnts are crucial for the differentiation of the surrounding mesenchyme during early postnatal alveologenesis.
Assuntos
Células Epiteliais Alveolares/metabolismo , Receptores Acoplados a Proteínas G/metabolismo , Actinas/genética , Actinas/metabolismo , Células Epiteliais Alveolares/citologia , Animais , Células Cultivadas , Transição Epitelial-Mesenquimal , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Receptores Acoplados a Proteínas G/genéticaRESUMO
Airway basal stem cells (BSCs) play a critical role in epithelial regeneration. Whether coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affects BSC function is unknown. Here, we derived BSC lines from patients with COVID-19 using tracheal aspirates (TAs) to circumvent the biosafety concerns of live-cell derivation. We show that BSCs derived from the TAs of control patients are bona fide bronchial BSCs. TA BSCs from patients with COVID-19 tested negative for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA; however, these so-termed COVID-19-exposed BSCs in vitro resemble a predominant BSC subpopulation uniquely present in patients with COVID-19, manifested by a proinflammatory gene signature and STAT3 hyperactivation. Furthermore, the sustained STAT3 hyperactivation drives goblet cell differentiation of COVID-19-exposed BSCs in an air-liquid interface. Last, these phenotypes of COVID-19-exposed BSCs can be induced in control BSCs by cytokine cocktail pretreatment. Taken together, acute inflammation in COVID-19 exerts a long-term impact on mucociliary differentiation of BSCs.
Assuntos
COVID-19 , Células Epiteliais , Humanos , Células-Tronco , Diferenciação Celular/fisiologia , BrônquiosRESUMO
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Transformation of stem/progenitor cells has been associated with tumorigenesis in multiple tissues, but stem cells in the stomach have been hard to localize. We therefore aimed to use a combination of several markers to better target oncogenes to gastric stem cells and understand their behavior in the initial stages of gastric tumorigenesis. METHODS: Mouse models of gastric metaplasia and cancer by targeting stem/progenitor cells were generated and analyzed with techniques including reanalysis of single-cell RNA sequencing and immunostaining. Gastric cancer cell organoids were genetically manipulated with clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) for functional studies. Cell division was determined by bromodeoxyuridine-chasing assay and the assessment of the orientation of the mitotic spindles. Gastric tissues from patients were examined by histopathology and immunostaining. RESULTS: Oncogenic insults lead to expansion of SOX9+ progenitor cells in the mouse stomach. Genetic lineage tracing and organoid culture studies show that SOX9+ gastric epithelial cells overlap with SOX2+ progenitors and include stem cells that can self-renew and differentiate to generate all gastric epithelial cells. Moreover, oncogenic targeting of SOX9+SOX2+ cells leads to invasive gastric cancer in our novel mouse model (Sox2-CreERT;Sox9-loxp(66)-rtTA-T2A-Flpo-IRES-loxp(71);Kras(Frt-STOP-Frt-G12D);P53R172H), which combines Cre-loxp and Flippase-Frt genetic recombination systems. Sox9 deletion impedes the expansion of gastric progenitor cells and blocks neoplasia after Kras activation. Although Sox9 is not required for maintaining tissue homeostasis where asymmetric division predominates, loss of Sox9 in the setting of Kras activation leads to reduced symmetric cell division and effectively attenuates the Kras-dependent expansion of stem/progenitor cells. Similarly, Sox9 deletion in gastric cancer organoids reduces symmetric cell division, organoid number, and organoid size. In patients with gastric cancer, high levels of SOX9 are associated with recurrence and poor prognosis. CONCLUSION: SOX9 marks gastric stem cells and modulates biased symmetric cell division, which appears to be required for the malignant transformation of gastric stem cells.
Assuntos
Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas p21(ras) , Neoplasias Gástricas , Camundongos , Animais , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas p21(ras)/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas p21(ras)/metabolismo , Neoplasias Gástricas/patologia , Proliferação de Células , Transformação Celular Neoplásica/patologia , Carcinogênese/patologia , Divisão Celular , Células-Tronco/metabolismoRESUMO
Severe viral pneumonia caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is characterized by a hyperinflammatory state typified by elevated circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines, frequently leading to potentially lethal vascular complications including thromboembolism, disseminated intracellular coagulopathy and vasculitis. Though endothelial infection and subsequent endothelial damage have been described in patients with fatal COVID-19, the mechanism by which this occurs remains elusive, particularly given that, under naïve conditions, pulmonary endothelial cells demonstrate minimal cell surface expression of the SARS-CoV-2 binding receptor ACE2. Herein we describe SARS-CoV-2 infection of the pulmonary endothelium in postmortem lung samples from individuals who died of COVID-19, demonstrating both heterogeneous ACE2 expression and endothelial damage. In primary endothelial cell cultures, we show that SARS-CoV-2 infection is dependent on the induction of ACE2 protein expression and that this process is facilitated by type 1 interferon-alpha (IFNα) or -beta(ß)-two of the main anti-viral cytokines induced in severe SARS-CoV-2 infection-but not significantly by other cytokines (including interleukin 6 and interferon γ/λ). Our findings suggest that the stereotypical anti-viral interferon response may paradoxically facilitate the propagation of COVID-19 from the respiratory epithelium to the vasculature, raising concerns regarding the use of exogenous IFNα/ß in the treatment of patients with COVID-19.
Assuntos
COVID-19 , Enzima de Conversão de Angiotensina 2 , Citocinas , Células Endoteliais , Humanos , Interferon-alfa , SARS-CoV-2RESUMO
Follistatin-like 1 (FSTL1) is a matricellular protein that is upregulated during development and disease, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), keloid, and arthritis. The profibrotic and pro-inflammatory roles of FSTL1 have been intensively studied during the last several years, as well as in this report. We screened and identified epitope-specific monoclonal neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) to functionally block FSTL1. FSTL1 nAbs attenuated bleomycin-induced pulmonary and dermal fibrosis in vivo and transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1-induced dermal fibrosis ex vivo in human skin. In addition, FSTL1 nAbs significantly reduced existing lung fibrosis and skin fibrosis in experimental models. FSTL1 nAbs exerted their potent antifibrotic effects via reduced TGF-ß1 responsiveness and subsequent myofibroblast activation and extracellular matrix production. We also observed that FSTL1 nAbs attenuated the severity of collagen-induced arthritis in mice, which was accompanied by reduced inflammatory responses in vitro. Our findings suggest that FSTL1 nAbs are a promising new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of multiple organ fibrosis and systemic autoimmune diseases.
Assuntos
Doenças Autoimunes/etiologia , Doenças Autoimunes/metabolismo , Biomarcadores , Suscetibilidade a Doenças , Proteínas Relacionadas à Folistatina/metabolismo , Fibrose Pulmonar Idiopática/etiologia , Fibrose Pulmonar Idiopática/metabolismo , Animais , Doenças Autoimunes/tratamento farmacológico , Doenças Autoimunes/patologia , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Descoberta de Drogas , Fibrose , Proteínas Relacionadas à Folistatina/antagonistas & inibidores , Proteínas Relacionadas à Folistatina/genética , Expressão Gênica , Humanos , Fibrose Pulmonar Idiopática/tratamento farmacológico , Fibrose Pulmonar Idiopática/patologia , Camundongos , Terapia de Alvo Molecular , Fator de Crescimento Transformador beta1/metabolismoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Recently, increased tumor incidence and cancer-related mortality have been reported among patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Intermittent hypoxia (IH), the hallmark feature of OSA, contributes to the metastasis of tumors. However, the molecular mechanisms by which tumor metastasis is accelerated by OSA-like IH remain to be elucidated. METHODS: C57BL/6 J male mice were subjected to intravenous injection of B16F10 melanoma cells before receiving IH treatment. Then, the animals were randomly distributed into three groups (n = 8 each): normoxia (N) group, IH group, and antioxidant tempol group (IHT, exposed to IH after treatment with tempol). After the mice were sacrificed, the number and weight of lung metastatic colonies were assessed. The lung tissues with tumor metastasis were analyzed for markers of oxidative stress and inflammation and for HIF-1α using western blotting and real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in B16F10 cell was also assessed after N, IH and IH with tempol treatments. RESULTS: Compared with normoxia, IH significantly increased the number and weight of mouse lung metastatic colonies. Treatment of B16F10 cells with IH significantly enhanced ROS generation. Lung tissues with tumor metastasis provided evidence of increased oxidative stress, as assessed by p22phox and SOD mRNA levels and the NRF2 protein level, as well as increased inflammation, as assessed by TNF-α and IL-6 mRNA levels and the NF-κB P65 protein level. HIF-1α protein levels were increased in response to IH treatment. Tempol, an important antioxidant, ameliorated IH-induced melanoma lung metastasis in mice and reduced oxidative stress and inflammation responses. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the hypothesis that oxidative stress and inflammation responses play an important role in the pathogenesis of OSA-like IH-induced melanoma lung metastasis in mice. Antioxidant intervention provides a novel strategy for the prevention and treatment of cancer in OSA populations.
Assuntos
Modelos Animais de Doenças , Hipóxia/metabolismo , Neoplasias Pulmonares/metabolismo , Melanoma Experimental/metabolismo , Estresse Oxidativo/fisiologia , Apneia Obstrutiva do Sono/metabolismo , Animais , Hipóxia/patologia , Inflamação/metabolismo , Inflamação/patologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Masculino , Melanoma Experimental/patologia , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Espécies Reativas de Oxigênio/metabolismo , Apneia Obstrutiva do Sono/patologiaRESUMO
Transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1 has long been regarded as a central mediator of tissue fibrosis. Follistatin-like 1 (Fstl1) is a crucial profibrotic glycoprotein that is upregulated in fibrotic lung tissues, and it promotes fibrogenesis via facilitating TGF-ß signaling. Here we examined the signaling pathway by which TGF-ß1 upregulates Fstl1 expression in mouse pulmonary fibroblasts. TGF-ß1 regulated Fstl1 expression at both the transcriptional and translational levels. Although TGF-ß1 rapidly activated the Smad, MAPK, and Akt pathways in lung fibroblasts, only Smad2/3 inhibition eliminated TGF-ß1-induced Fstl1 expression. Analysis of the luciferase reporter activity identified a functional c-Jun transcription site in the Fstl1 promoter. Our results suggested a critical role for the Smad3-c-Jun pathway in the regulation of Fstl1 expression by TGF-ß1 during fibrogenesis.
Assuntos
Fibroblastos/metabolismo , Proteínas Relacionadas à Folistatina/metabolismo , Pulmão/metabolismo , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-jun/metabolismo , Proteína Smad3/metabolismo , Fator de Crescimento Transformador beta1/metabolismo , Animais , Fibrose/metabolismo , Proteínas Relacionadas à Folistatina/genética , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Fosforilação/genética , Regiões Promotoras Genéticas/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-jun/genética , Transdução de Sinais/genética , Proteína Smad3/genética , Transcrição Gênica/genética , Ativação Transcricional/genética , Fator de Crescimento Transformador beta1/genéticaRESUMO
Remodeling of the tissue niche is often evident in diseases, yet, the stromal alterations and their contribution to pathogenesis are poorly characterized. Bone marrow fibrosis is a maladaptive feature of primary myelofibrosis (PMF). We performed lineage tracing and found that most collagen-expressing myofibroblasts were derived from leptin-receptor-positive (LepR+) mesenchymal cells, whereas a minority were from Gli1-lineage cells. Deletion of Gli1 did not impact PMF. Unbiased single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) confirmed that virtually all myofibroblasts originated from LepR-lineage cells, with reduced expression of hematopoietic niche factors and increased expression of fibrogenic factors. Concurrently, endothelial cells upregulated arteriolar-signature genes. Pericytes and Sox10+ glial cells expanded drastically with heightened cell-cell signaling, suggesting important functional roles in PMF. Chemical or genetic ablation of bone marrow glial cells ameliorated fibrosis and improved other pathology in PMF. Thus, PMF involves complex remodeling of the bone marrow microenvironment, and glial cells represent a promising therapeutic target.
Assuntos
Mielofibrose Primária , Humanos , Mielofibrose Primária/tratamento farmacológico , Proteína GLI1 em Dedos de Zinco/metabolismo , Células Endoteliais/metabolismo , Medula Óssea/metabolismo , Neuroglia/metabolismo , Fatores de Transcrição SOXE/genética , Fatores de Transcrição SOXE/metabolismoRESUMO
We leverage machine learning approaches to adapt nanopore sequencing basecallers for nucleotide modification detection. We first apply the incremental learning technique to improve the basecalling of modification-rich sequences, which are usually of high biological interests. With sequence backbones resolved, we further run anomaly detection on individual nucleotides to determine their modification status. By this means, our pipeline promises the single-molecule, single-nucleotide and sequence context-free detection of modifications. We benchmark the pipeline using control oligos, further apply it in the basecalling of densely-modified yeast tRNAs and E.coli genomic DNAs, the cross-species detection of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) in mammalian mRNAs, and the simultaneous detection of N1-methyladenosine (m1A) and m6A in human mRNAs. Our IL-AD workflow is available at: https://github.com/wangziyuan66/IL-AD.
RESUMO
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause severe disease especially in infants; however, mechanisms of age-associated disease severity remain elusive. Here, employing human bronchial epithelium models generated from tracheal aspirate-derived basal stem cells of neonates and adults, we investigated whether age regulates RSV-epithelium interaction to determine disease severity. We show that following RSV infection, only neonatal epithelium model exhibited cytopathy and mucus hyperplasia, and neonatal epithelium had more robust viral spread and inflammatory responses than adult epithelium. Mechanistically, RSV-infected neonatal ciliated cells displayed age-related impairment of STAT3 activation, rendering susceptibility to apoptosis, which facilitated viral spread. In contrast, SARS-CoV-2 infection of ciliated cells had no effect on STAT3 activation and was not affected by age. Taken together, our findings identify an age-related and RSV-specific interaction with neonatal bronchial epithelium that critically contributes to severity of infection, and STAT3 activation offers a potential strategy to battle severe RSV disease in infants.
RESUMO
While cell fate determination and maintenance are important in establishing and preserving tissue identity and function during development, aberrant cell fate transition leads to cancer cell heterogeneity and resistance to treatment. Here, we report an unexpected role for the transcription factor p63 (Trp63/TP63) in the fate choice of squamous versus neuroendocrine lineage in esophageal development and malignancy. Deletion of p63 results in extensive neuroendocrine differentiation in the developing mouse esophagus and esophageal progenitors derived from human embryonic stem cells. In human esophageal neuroendocrine carcinoma (eNEC) cells, p63 is transcriptionally silenced by EZH2-mediated H3K27 trimethylation (H3K27me3). Upregulation of the major p63 isoform ΔNp63α, through either ectopic expression or EZH2 inhibition, promotes squamous transdifferentiation of eNEC cells. Together these findings uncover p63 as a rheostat in coordinating the transition between squamous and neuroendocrine cell fates during esophageal development and tumor progression.
RESUMO
Millions suffer from incurable lung diseases, and the donor lung shortage hampers organ transplants. Generating the whole organ in conjunction with the thymus is a significant milestone for organ transplantation because the thymus is the central organ to educate immune cells. Using lineage-tracing mice and human pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived lung-directed differentiation, we revealed that gastrulating Foxa2 lineage contributed to both lung mesenchyme and epithelium formation. Interestingly, Foxa2 lineage-derived cells in the lung mesenchyme progressively increased and occupied more than half of the mesenchyme niche, including endothelial cells, during lung development. Foxa2 promoter-driven, conditional Fgfr2 gene depletion caused the lung and thymus agenesis phenotype in mice. Wild-type donor mouse PSCs injected into their blastocysts rescued this phenotype by complementing the Fgfr2-defective niche in the lung epithelium and mesenchyme and thymic epithelium. Donor cell is shown to replace the entire lung epithelial and robust mesenchymal niche during lung development, efficiently complementing the nearly entire lung niche. Importantly, those mice survived until adulthood with normal lung function. These results suggest that our Foxa2 lineage-based model is unique for the progressive mobilization of donor cells into both epithelial and mesenchymal lung niches and thymus generation, which can provide critical insights into studying lung transplantation post-transplantation shortly.
Assuntos
Células Endoteliais , Células-Tronco Pluripotentes , Camundongos , Humanos , Animais , Adulto , Células-Tronco Pluripotentes/metabolismo , Diferenciação Celular , Pulmão , Blastocisto/metabolismo , Fator 3-beta Nuclear de Hepatócito/genética , Fator 3-beta Nuclear de Hepatócito/metabolismoRESUMO
Viral infection often causes severe damage to the lungs, leading to the appearance of ectopic basal cells (EBCs) and tuft cells in the lung parenchyma. Thus far, the roles of these ectopic epithelial cells in alveolar regeneration remain controversial. Here, we confirm that the ectopic tuft cells are originated from EBCs in mouse models and COVID-19 lungs. The differentiation of tuft cells from EBCs is promoted by Wnt inhibition while suppressed by Notch inhibition. Although progenitor functions have been suggested in other organs, pulmonary tuft cells don't proliferate or give rise to other cell lineages. Consistent with previous reports, Trp63CreERT2 and KRT5-CreERT2-labeled ectopic EBCs do not exhibit alveolar regeneration potential. Intriguingly, when tamoxifen was administrated post-viral infection, Trp63CreERT2 but not KRT5-CreERT2 labels islands of alveolar epithelial cells that are negative for EBC biomarkers. Furthermore, germline deletion of Trpm5 significantly increases the contribution of Trp63CreERT2-labeled cells to the alveolar epithelium. Although Trpm5 is known to regulate tuft cell development, complete ablation of tuft cell production fails to improve alveolar regeneration in Pou2f3-/- mice, implying that Trpm5 promotes alveolar epithelial regeneration through a mechanism independent of tuft cells.
Assuntos
COVID-19 , Animais , Biomarcadores , Diferenciação Celular , Linhagem da Célula , Células Epiteliais , Camundongos , Tamoxifeno/farmacologia , TransativadoresRESUMO
Mucus-secreting goblet cells are the dominant cell type in pulmonary diseases, e.g., asthma and cystic fibrosis (CF), leading to pathologic mucus metaplasia and airway obstruction. Cytokines including IL-13 are the major players in the transdifferentiation of club cells into goblet cells. Unexpectedly, we have uncovered a previously undescribed pathway promoting mucous metaplasia that involves VEGFa and its receptor KDR. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis coupled with genetic mouse modeling demonstrates that loss of epithelial VEGFa, KDR, or MEK/ERK kinase promotes excessive club-to-goblet transdifferentiation during development and regeneration. Sox9 is required for goblet cell differentiation following Kdr inhibition in both mouse and human club cells. Significantly, airway mucous metaplasia in asthmatic and CF patients is also associated with reduced KDR signaling and increased SOX9 expression. Together, these findings reveal an unexpected role for VEGFa/KDR signaling in the defense against mucous metaplasia, offering a potential therapeutic target for this common airway pathology.
Assuntos
Obstrução das Vias Respiratórias/genética , Metaplasia/genética , Fatores de Transcrição SOX9/genética , Fator A de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/genética , Receptor 2 de Fatores de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/genética , Obstrução das Vias Respiratórias/metabolismo , Obstrução das Vias Respiratórias/patologia , Animais , Transdiferenciação Celular/genética , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Regulação da Expressão Gênica/genética , Células Caliciformes/metabolismo , Células Caliciformes/patologia , Humanos , Interleucina-13/genética , Sistema de Sinalização das MAP Quinases/genética , Metaplasia/patologia , Camundongos , Muco/metabolismo , Análise de Célula ÚnicaRESUMO
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal growing problem, with limited therapeutic options. Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-ß1) plays a critical role in many pathological processes that characterize pulmonary fibrosis. Effective and well-tolerated antifibrotic agents that interfere with TGF-ß1 signaling would be an ideal treatment but no such treatments are available. In this study, we identified that the natural compound, neohesperidin, antagonizes TGF-ß1/Smad3 signaling. We found that neohesperidin not only inhibited the TGF-ß1-induced injury to alveolar epithelial cells but also decreased the TGF-ß1-induced myofibroblast differentiation, extracellular matrix production, and fibroblast migration. Furthermore, we obtained in vivo evidence that neohesperidin treatment inhibited bleomycin-induced lung injuries and even attenuated established pulmonary fibrosis in mice. Our data suggest that neohesperidin can target the critical signaling pathway and profibrogenic responses in progressive pulmonary fibrosis and may have a potential use in treatment.