Evaluation of chronic cigarette smoke exposure in human bronchial epithelial cultures.

Cigarette smoke (CS) exposure induces both cytotoxicity and inflammation, and often causes COPD, a growing cause of morbidity and mortality. CS also inhibits the CFTR Cl- channel, leading to airway surface liquid dehydration, which is predicated to impair clearance of inhaled pathogens and toxicants. Numerous in vitro studies have been performed that utilize acute (≤24 h) CS exposures. However, CS exposure is typically chronic. We evaluated the feasibility of using British-American Tobacco (BAT)-designed CS exposure chambers for chronically exposing human bronchial epithelial cultures (HBECs) to CS. HBECs are polarized and contain mucosal and serosal sides. In vivo, inhaled CS interacts with mucosal membranes, and BAT chambers are designed to direct CS to HBEC mucosal surfaces while keeping CS away from serosal surfaces via a perfusion system. We found that serosal perfusion was absolutely required to maintain HBEC viability over time following chronic CS exposure. Indeed, with this system, we found that CS increased inflammation and mucin levels, while decreasing CFTR function. Without this serosal perfusion, CS was extremely toxic within 24 h. We therefore propose that 5- and 10-day CS exposures with serosal perfusion are suitable for measuring chronic CS exposure and can be used for monitoring new and emerging tobacco products.

Low- and high-LET radiation drives clonal expansion of lung progenitor cells in vivo.

Abundant populations of epithelial progenitor cells maintain the epithelium along the proximal-to-distal axis of the airway. Exposure of lung tissue to ionizing radiation leads to tissue remodeling and potential cancer initiation or progression. However, little is known about the effects of ionizing radiation on airway epithelial progenitor cells. We hypothesized that ionizing radiation exposure will alter the behavior of airway epithelial progenitor cells in a radiation dose- and quality-dependent manner. To address this hypothesis, we cultured primary airway epithelial cells isolated from mice exposed to various doses of 320 kVp X ray or 600 MeV/nucleon (56)Fe ions in a 3D epithelial-fibroblast co-culture system. Colony-forming efficiency of the airway epithelial progenitor cells was assessed at culture day 14. In vivo clonogenic and proliferative potentials of airway epithelial progenitor cells were measured after exposure to ionizing radiation by lineage tracing and IdU incorporation. Exposure to both X rays and (56)Fe resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in the ability of epithelial progenitors to form colonies in vitro. In vivo evidence for increased clonogenic expansion of epithelial progenitors was observed after exposure to both X rays and (56)Fe. Interestingly, we found no significant increase in the epithelial proliferative index, indicating that ionizing radiation does not promote increased turnover of the airway epithelium. Therefore, we propose a model in which radiation induces a dose-dependent decrease in the pool of available progenitor cells, leaving fewer progenitors able to maintain the airway long-term. This work provides novel insights into the effects of ionizing radiation exposure on airway epithelial progenitor cell behavior.

Impaired CD8(+) T cell immunity after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation leads to persistent and severe respiratory viral infection.

RATIONALE: Bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients experience frequent and severe respiratory viral infections (RVIs). However, the immunological mechanisms predisposing to RVIs are uncertain. Therefore, we hypothesized that antiviral T cell immunity is impaired as a consequence of allogeneic BMT, independent of pharmacologic immunosuppression, and is responsible for increased susceptibility to RVI. METHODS: Bone marrow and splenocytes from C57BL/6(H2(b)) mice were transplanted into B10.BR(H2(k)) (Allo) or C57BL/6(H2(b)) (Syn) recipients. Five weeks after transplantation, recipient mice were inoculated intranasally with mouse parainfluenza virus type 1 (mPIV-1), commonly known as Sendai virus (SeV), and monitored for relevant immunological and disease endpoints. MAIN RESULTS: Severe and persistent airway inflammation, epithelial injury, and enhanced mortality are found after viral infection in Allo mice but not in control Syn and non-transplanted mice. In addition, viral clearance is delayed in Allo mice as evidenced by prolonged detection of viral transcripts at Day 15 post-inoculation (p.i.) but not in control mice. In concert with these events, we also detected decreased levels of total and virus-specific CD8(+) T cells, as well as increased T cellexpression of inhibitory receptor programmed death-1 (PD-1), in the lungs of Allo mice at Day 8 p.i. Adoptive transfer of CD8(+) T cells from non-transplanted mice recovered from SeV infection into Allo mice at Day 8 p.i. restored normal levels of viral clearance, epithelial repair, and lung inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together these results indicate that allogeneic BMT results in more severe RVI based on the failure to develop an appropriate pulmonary CD8(+) T cell response, providing an important potential mechanism to target in improving outcomes of RVI after BMT.

Diesel exhaust particles induce aberrant alveolar epithelial directed cell movement by disruption of polarity mechanisms.

Disruption of the respiratory epithelium contributes to the progression of a variety of respiratory diseases that are aggravated by exposure to air pollutants, specifically traffic-based pollutants such as diesel exhaust particles (DEP). Recognizing that lung repair following injury requires efficient and directed alveolar epithelial cell migration, this study's goal was to understand the mechanisms underlying alveolar epithelial cells response to DEP, particularly when exposure is accompanied with comorbid lung injury. Separate mechanistic steps of directed migration were investigated in confluent murine LA-4 cells exposed to noncytotoxic concentrations (0-100 µg/cm(2)) of either automobile-emitted diesel exhaust particles (DEP(A)) or carbon black (CB) particles. A scratch wound model ascertained how DEP(A) exposure affected directional cell migration and BCECF ratio fluorimetry-monitored intracellular pH (pHi). Cells were immunostained with giantin to assess cell polarity, and with paxillin to assess focal cell adhesions. Cells were immunoblotted for ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) to assess cytoskeletal anchoring. Data demonstrate herein that exposure of LA-4 cells to DEP(A) (but not CB) resulted in delayed directional cell migration, impaired de-adhesion of the trailing edge cell processes, disrupted regulation of pHi, and altered Golgi polarity of leading edge cells, along with modified focal adhesions and reduced ERM levels, indicative of decreased cytoskeletal anchoring. The ability of DEP(A) to disrupt directed cell migration at multiple levels suggests that signaling pathways such as ERM/Rho are critical for transduction of ion transport signals into cytoskeletal arrangement responses. These results provide insights into the mechanisms by which chronic exposure to traffic-based emissions may result in decrements in lung capacity.

Nitric oxide and superoxide mediate diesel particle effects in cytokine-treated mice and murine lung epithelial cells--implications for susceptibility to traffic-related air pollution.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies associate childhood exposure to traffic-related air pollution with increased respiratory infections and asthmatic and allergic symptoms. The strongest associations between traffic exposure and negative health impacts are observed in individuals with respiratory inflammation. We hypothesized that interactions between nitric oxide (NO), increased during lung inflammatory responses, and reactive oxygen species (ROS), increased as a consequence of traffic exposure ─ played a key role in the increased susceptibility of these at-risk populations to traffic emissions. METHODS: Diesel exhaust particles (DEP) were used as surrogates for traffic particles. Murine lung epithelial (LA-4) cells and BALB/c mice were treated with a cytokine mixture (cytomix: TNFα, IL-1ß, and IFNγ) to induce a generic inflammatory state. Cells were exposed to saline or DEP (25 µg/cm(2)) and examined for differential effects on redox balance and cytotoxicity. Likewise, mice undergoing nose-only inhalation exposure to air or DEP (2 mg/m(3) × 4 h/d × 2 d) were assessed for differential effects on lung inflammation, injury, antioxidant levels, and phagocyte ROS production. RESULTS: Cytomix treatment significantly increased LA-4 cell NO production though iNOS activation. Cytomix + DEP-exposed cells incurred the greatest intracellular ROS production, with commensurate cytotoxicity, as these cells were unable to maintain redox balance. By contrast, saline + DEP-exposed cells were able to mount effective antioxidant responses. DEP effects were mediated by: (1) increased ROS including superoxide anion (O(2)(·-)), related to increased xanthine dehydrogenase expression and reduced cytosolic superoxide dismutase activity; and (2) increased peroxynitrite generation related to interaction of O(2)(·-) with cytokine-induced NO. Effects were partially reduced by superoxide dismutase (SOD) supplementation or by blocking iNOS induction. In mice, cytomix + DEP-exposure resulted in greater ROS production in lung phagocytes. Phagocyte and epithelial effects were, by and large, prevented by treatment with FeTMPyP, which accelerates peroxynitrite catalysis. CONCLUSIONS: During inflammation, due to interactions of NO and O(2)(·-), DEP-exposure was associated with nitrosative stress in surface epithelial cells and resident lung phagocytes. As these cell types work in concert to provide protection against inhaled pathogens and allergens, dysfunction would predispose to development of respiratory infection and allergy. Results provide a mechanism by which individuals with pre-existing respiratory inflammation are at increased risk for exposure to traffic-dominated urban air pollution.

Amphiregulin-dependent mucous cell metaplasia in a model of nonallergic lung injury.

Proliferation and differentiation of the pulmonary epithelium after injury is a critical process in the defense against the external environment. Defects in this response can result in airway remodeling, such as mucus cell metaplasia (MCM), commonly seen in patients with chronic lung disease. We have previously shown that amphiregulin (AREG), a ligand to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), is induced during the repair/differentiation process elicited by naphthalene-induced lung injury. Thus, we hypothesized that AREG signaling plays an important role in epithelial proliferation and differentiation of the repairing airway. Mice deficient in AREG and lung epithelial EGFR were used to define roles for AREG-dependent EGFR signaling in airway repair and remodeling. We show that AREG and epithelial EGFR expression is dispensable to pulmonary epithelial repair after naphthalene-induced lung injury, but regulates secretory cell differentiation to a mucus-producing phenotype. We show that the pulmonary epithelium is the source of AREG, suggesting that naphthalene-induced MCM is mediated through an autocrine signaling mechanism. However, induction of MCM resulting from allergen exposure was independent of AREG. Our data demonstrate that AREG-dependent EGFR signaling in airway epithelial cells contributes to MCM in naphthalene-induced lung injury. We conclude that AREG may represent a determinant of nonallergic chronic lung diseases complicated by MCM.

Susceptibility of inflamed alveolar and airway epithelial cells to injury induced by diesel exhaust particles of varying organic carbon content.

Exposure to traffic-related ambient air pollution, such as diesel exhaust particles (DEP), is associated with adverse health outcomes, especially in individuals with preexisting inflammatory respiratory diseases. Using an analogous novel in vitro system to model both the healthy and inflamed lung, the susceptibility of epithelial cells exposed to DEP of varying organic carbon content was studied. Murine LA-4 alveolar type II-like epithelial cells, as well as primary murine tracheal epithelial cells (MTE), were treated with exogenous cytokines (tumor necrosis factor [TNF] alpha + interleukin [IL]-1 beta + interferon [IFN] gamma) to model a mild inflammatory state. Epithelial cells were subsequently exposed to DEP of varying organic carbon content, and the resultant cytotoxic, cytoprotective, or antioxidant cell responses were inferred by changes in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression, or glutathione levels, respectively. Data showed that exposure of healthy LA-4 cells to organic carbon-rich DEP (25 microg/cm(2); 24 h) induced adaptive cytoprotective/antioxidant responses with no apparent cell injury. In contrast, exposure of inflamed LA-4 cells resulted in oxidative stress culminating in significant cytotoxicity. Exposure of healthy MTE cells to organic carbon-rich DEP (20 microg/cm(2); 24 h) was seemingly without effect, whereas exposure of inflamed MTE cells resulted in increased epithelial solute permeability. Thus, surface lung epithelial cells stressed by a state of inflammation and then exposed to organic carbon-rich DEP appear unable to respond to the additional oxidative stress, resulting in epithelial barrier dysfunction and injury. Adverse health outcomes associated with exposure to traffic-related air pollutants, like DEP, in patients with preexisting inflammatory respiratory diseases may be due, in part, to similar mechanisms.

DNA damage induced by hyperoxia: quantitation and correlation with lung injury.

Inspired oxygen, an essential therapy for cardiorespiratory disorders, has the potential to generate reactive oxygen species that damage cellular DNA. Although DNA damage is implicated in diverse pulmonary disorders, including neoplasia and acute lung injury, the type and magnitude of DNA lesion caused by oxygen in vivo is unclear. We used single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) to quantitate two distinct forms of DNA damage, base adduction and disruption of the phosphodiester backbone, in the lungs of mice. Both lesions were induced by oxygen, but a marked difference between the two was found. With 40 h of oxygen exposure, oxidized base adducts increased 3- to 4-fold in the entire population of lung cells. This lesion displayed temporal characteristics (a progressive increase over the first 24 h) consistent with a direct effect of reactive oxygen species attack upon DNA. DNA strand breaks, on the other hand, occurred in < 10% of pulmonary cells, which acquired severe levels of the lesion; dividing cells were preferentially affected. Characteristics of these cells suggested that DNA strand breakage was secondary to cell death, rather than a primary effect of reactive oxygen species attack on DNA. By analysis of IL-6- and IL-11-overexpressing transgenic animals, which are resistant to hyperoxia, we found that DNA strand breaks, but not base damage, correlated with acute lung injury. Analysis of purified alveolar type 2 preparations from hyperoxic mice indicated that strand breaks preferentially affected this cell type.