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Keshava S, Owens S, Qin W, Jeffers A, Kyei P, Komatsu S, Kleam J, Ikebe M, Idell S, Tucker TA. The mTORC2/SGK1/NDRG1 Signaling Axis Is Critical for the Mesomesenchymal Transition of Pleural Mesothelial Cells and the Progression of Pleural Fibrosis. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2024; 70:50-62. [PMID: 37607215 PMCID: PMC10768834 DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2023-0131oc] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 08/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Progressive lung scarring because of persistent pleural organization often results in pleural fibrosis (PF). This process affects patients with complicated parapneumonic pleural effusions, empyema, and other pleural diseases prone to loculation. In PF, pleural mesothelial cells undergo mesomesenchymal transition (MesoMT) to become profibrotic, characterized by increased expression of α-smooth muscle actin and matrix proteins, including collagen-1. In our previous study, we showed that blocking PI3K/Akt signaling inhibits MesoMT induction in human pleural mesothelial cells (HPMCs) (1). However, the downstream signaling pathways leading to MesoMT induction remain obscure. Here, we investigated the role of mTOR complexes (mTORC1/2) in MesoMT induction. Our studies show that activation of the downstream mediator mTORC1/2 complex is, likewise, a critical component of MesoMT. Specific targeting of mTORC1/2 complex using pharmacological inhibitors such as INK128 and AZD8055 significantly inhibited transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)-induced MesoMT markers in HPMCs. We further identified the mTORC2/Rictor complex as the principal contributor to MesoMT progression induced by TGF-β. Knockdown of Rictor, but not Raptor, attenuated TGF-β-induced MesoMT in these cells. In these studies, we further show that concomitant activation of the SGK1/NDRG1 signaling cascade is essential for inducing MesoMT. Targeting SGK1 and NDRG1 with siRNA and small molecular inhibitors attenuated TGF-β-induced MesoMT in HPMCs. Additionally, preclinical studies in our Streptococcus pneumoniae-mediated mouse model of PF showed that inhibition of mTORC1/2 with INK128 significantly attenuated the progression of PF in subacute and chronic injury. In conclusion, our studies demonstrate that mTORC2/Rictor-mediated activation of SGK1/NDRG1 is critical for MesoMT induction and that targeting this pathway could inhibit or even reverse the progression of MesoMT and PF.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shuzi Owens
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, and
| | - Wenyi Qin
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, and
| | | | - Perpetual Kyei
- Biotechnology Graduate Program, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
| | | | - Joshua Kleam
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, and
| | - Mitsuo Ikebe
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, and
| | - Steven Idell
- Texas Lung Injury Institute
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, and
| | - Torry A. Tucker
- Texas Lung Injury Institute
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, and
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2
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Guo X, Adeyanju O, Olajuyin AM, Mandlem V, Sunil C, Adewumi J, Huang S, Tucker TA, Idell S, Qian G. MARCH8 downregulation modulates profibrotic responses including myofibroblast differentiation. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 2023; 325:C1190-C1200. [PMID: 37661917 PMCID: PMC10854817 DOI: 10.1152/ajpcell.00166.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 08/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Interstitial lung diseases can result in poor patient outcomes, especially in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a severe interstitial lung disease with unknown causes. The lack of treatment options requires further understanding of the pathological process/mediators. Membrane-associated RING-CH 8 (MARCH8) has been implicated in immune function regulation and inflammation, however, its role in the development of pulmonary fibrosis and particularly the fibroblast to myofibroblast transition (FMT) remains a gap in existing knowledge. In this study, we demonstrated decreased MARCH8 expression in patients with IPF compared with non-PF controls and in bleomycin-induced PF. TGF-β dose- and time-dependently decreased MARCH8 expression in normal and IPF human lung fibroblast (HLFs), along with induction of FMT markers α-SMA, collagen type I (Col-1), and fibronectin (FN). Interestingly, overexpression of MARCH8 significantly suppressed TGF-β-induced expression of α-SMA, Col-1, and FN. By contrast, the knockdown of MARCH8 using siRNA upregulated basal expression of α-SMA/Col-1/FN. Moreover, MARCH8 knockdown enhanced TGF-β-induced FMT marker expression. These data clearly show that MARCH8 is a critical "brake" for FMT and potentially affects PF. We further found that TGF-β suppressed MARCH8 mRNA expression and the proteasome inhibitor MG132 failed to block MARCH8 decrease induced by TGF-β. Conversely, TGF-β decreases mRNA levels of MARCH8 in a dose- and time-dependent manner, suggesting the transcriptional regulation of MARCH8 by TGF-β. Mechanistically, MARCH8 overexpression suppressed TGF-β-induced Smad2/3 phosphorylation, which may account for the observed effects. Taken together, this study demonstrated an unrecognized role of MARCH8 in negatively regulating FMT and profibrogenic responses relevant to interstitial lung diseases.NEW & NOTEWORTHY MARCH8 is an important modulator of inflammation, immunity, and other cellular processes. We found that MARCH8 expression is downregulated in the lungs of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and experimental models of pulmonary fibrosis. Furthermore, TGF-β1 decreases MARCH8 transcriptionally in human lung fibroblasts (HLFs). MARCH8 overexpression blunts TGF-β1-induced fibroblast to myofibroblast transition while knockdown of MARCH8 drives this profibrotic change in HLFs. The findings support further exploration of MARCH8 as a novel target in IPF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xia Guo
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Oluwaseun Adeyanju
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Ayobami Matthew Olajuyin
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Venkatakirankumar Mandlem
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Christudas Sunil
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Joy Adewumi
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Steven Huang
- The Texas Lung Injury Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Torry A Tucker
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
- The Texas Lung Injury Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Steven Idell
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
- The Texas Lung Injury Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Guoqing Qian
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas, United States
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Discovery of the radio-protecting effect of Ecliptae Herba, its constituents and targeting p53-mediated apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Acta Pharm Sin B 2022; 13:1216-1230. [PMID: 36970216 PMCID: PMC10031264 DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2022] [Revised: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Radiation protection drugs are often accompanied by toxicity, even amifostine, which has been the dominant radio-protecting drug for nearly 30 years. Furthermore, there is no therapeutic drug for radiation-induced intestinal injury (RIII). This paper intends to find a safe and effective radio-protecting ingredient from natural sources. The radio-protecting effect of Ecliptae Herba (EHE) was discovered preliminarily by antioxidant experiments and the mouse survival rate after 137Cs irradiation. EHE components and blood substances in vivo were identified through UPLC‒Q-TOF. The correlation network of "natural components in EHE-constituents migrating to blood-targets-pathways" was established to predict the active components and pathways. The binding force between potential active components and targets was studied by molecular docking, and the mechanism was further analyzed by Western blotting, cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA), and ChIP. Additionally, the expression levels of Lgr5, Axin2, Ki67, lysozyme, caspase-3, caspase-8,8-OHdG, and p53 in the small intestine of mice were detected. It was found for the first time that EHE is active in radiation protection and that luteolin is the material basis of this protection. Luteolin is a promising candidate for RⅢ. Luteolin can inhibit the p53 signaling pathway and regulate the BAX/BCL2 ratio in the process of apoptosis. Luteolin could also regulate the expression of multitarget proteins related to the same cell cycle.
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Guo X, Adeyanju O, Sunil C, Mandlem V, Olajuyin A, Huang S, Chen SY, Idell S, Tucker TA, Qian G. DOCK2 contributes to pulmonary fibrosis by promoting lung fibroblast to myofibroblast transition. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 2022; 323:C133-C144. [PMID: 35584329 PMCID: PMC9273279 DOI: 10.1152/ajpcell.00067.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 05/13/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the most common chronic interstitial lung disease and is characterized by progressive scarring of the lung. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling plays an essential role in IPF and drives fibroblast to myofibroblast transition (FMT). Dedicator of cytokinesis 2 (DOCK2) is known to regulate diverse immune functions by activating Rac and has been recently implicated in pleural fibrosis. We now report a novel role of DOCK2 in pulmonary fibrosis development by mediating FMT. In primary normal and IPF human lung fibroblasts (HLFs), TGF-β induced DOCK2 expression concurrent with FMT markers, smooth muscle α-actin (α-SMA), collagen-1, and fibronectin. Knockdown of DOCK2 significantly attenuated TGF-β-induced expression of these FMT markers. In addition, we found that the upregulation of DOCK2 by TGF-β is dependent on both Smad3 and ERK pathways as their respective inhibitors blocked TGF-β-mediated induction. TGF-β also stabilized DOCK2 protein, which contributes to increased DOCK2 expression. In addition, DOCK2 was also dramatically induced in the lungs of patients with IPF and in bleomycin, and TGF-β induced pulmonary fibrosis in C57BL/6 mice. Furthermore, increased lung DOCK2 expression colocalized with the FMT marker α-SMA in the bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis model, implicating DOCK2 in the regulation of lung fibroblast phenotypic changes. Importantly, DOCK2 deficiency also attenuated bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis and α-SMA expression. Taken together, our study demonstrates a novel role of DOCK2 in pulmonary fibrosis by modulating FMT and suggests that targeting DOCK2 may present a potential therapeutic strategy for the prevention or treatment of IPF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xia Guo
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
| | - Oluwaseun Adeyanju
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
| | - Christudas Sunil
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
| | - Venkatakirankumar Mandlem
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
| | - Ayobami Olajuyin
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
| | - Steven Huang
- Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Shi-You Chen
- Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, The University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
| | - Steven Idell
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
- The Texas Lung Injury Institute, Tyler, Texas
| | - Torry A Tucker
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
- The Texas Lung Injury Institute, Tyler, Texas
| | - Guoqing Qian
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
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Tucker TA, Idell S. Update on Novel Targeted Therapy for Pleural Organization and Fibrosis. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23031587. [PMID: 35163509 PMCID: PMC8835949 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2021] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Pleural injury and subsequent loculation is characterized by acute injury, sustained inflammation and, when severe, pathologic tissue reorganization. While fibrin deposition is a normal part of the injury response, disordered fibrin turnover can promote pleural loculation and, when unresolved, fibrosis of the affected area. Within this review, we present a brief discussion of the current IPFT therapies, including scuPA, for the treatment of pathologic fibrin deposition and empyema. We also discuss endogenously expressed PAI-1 and how it may affect the efficacy of IPFT therapies. We further delineate the role of pleural mesothelial cells in the progression of pleural injury and subsequent pleural remodeling resulting from matrix deposition. We also describe how pleural mesothelial cells promote pleural fibrosis as myofibroblasts via mesomesenchymal transition. Finally, we discuss novel therapeutic targets which focus on blocking and/or reversing the myofibroblast differentiation of pleural mesothelial cells for the treatment of pleural fibrosis.
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Qian G, Adeyanju O, Roy S, Sunil C, Jeffers A, Guo X, Ikebe M, Idell S, Tucker TA. DOCK2 Promotes Pleural Fibrosis by Modulating Mesothelial to Mesenchymal Transition. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2021; 66:171-182. [PMID: 34710342 DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2021-0175oc] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Mesothelial to mesenchymal transition (MesoMT) is one of the crucial mechanisms underlying pleural fibrosis, which results in restrictive lung disease. DOCK2 plays important roles in immune functions, however, its role in pleural fibrosis particularly MesoMT remains unknown. We found that DOCK2 and the MesoMT maker α-SMA were significantly elevated and colocalized in the thickened pleura of patients with nonspecific pleuritis, suggesting the involvement of DOCK2 in the pathogenesis of MesoMT and pleural fibrosis. Likewise, data from three different pleural fibrosis models (TGF-β, carbon black/bleomycin, and streptococcal empyema) consistently demonstrated DOCK2 upregulation and its colocalization with α-SMA in the pleura. In addition, induced DOCK2 colocalized with the mesothelial marker calretinin, implicating DOCK2 in the regulation of MesoMT. Our in vivo data also showed that DOCK2 knockout mice were protected from Streptococcus pneumoniae induced pleural fibrosis, impaired lung compliance, and collagen deposition. To determine the involvement of DOCK2 in MesoMT, we treated primary human pleural mesothelial cells with the potent MesoMT inducer TGF-β. TGF-β significantly induced DOCK2 expression in a time-dependent manner, along with α-SMA, collagen 1, and fibronectin. Furthermore, DOCK2 knockdown significantly attenuated TGF-β induced α-SMA, collagen 1 and fibronectin expression, suggesting the importance of DOCK2 in TGF-β induced MesoMT. DOCK2 knockdown also inhibited TGF-β induced Snail upregulation, which may account for its role in regulating MesoMT. Taken together, the current study provides evidence that DOCK2 contributes to the pathogenesis of pleural fibrosis by mediating MesoMT and deposition of neomatrix and may represent a novel target for its prevention or treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guoqing Qian
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 12341, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Tyler, Texas, United States;
| | - Oluwaseun Adeyanju
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 12341, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Saptarshi Roy
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 12341, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Christudas Sunil
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 12341, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Ann Jeffers
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 12341, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Xia Guo
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 12341, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Mitsuo Ikebe
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 12341, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Steven Idell
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 12341, Texas Lung Injury Institute, Tyler, Texas, United States
| | - Torry A Tucker
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 12341, Texas Lung Injury Institute, Tyler, Texas, United States
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TGF-β regulation of the uPA/uPAR axis modulates mesothelial-mesenchymal transition (MesoMT). Sci Rep 2021; 11:21210. [PMID: 34707211 PMCID: PMC8551303 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99520-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Pleural fibrosis (PF) is a chronic and progressive lung disease which affects approximately 30,000 people per year in the United States. Injury and sustained inflammation of the pleural space can result in PF, restricting lung expansion and impairing oxygen exchange. During the progression of pleural injury, normal pleural mesothelial cells (PMCs) undergo a transition, termed mesothelial mesenchymal transition (MesoMT). While multiple components of the fibrinolytic pathway have been investigated in pleural remodeling and PF, the role of the urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) is unknown. We found that uPAR is robustly expressed by pleural mesothelial cells in PF. Downregulation of uPAR by siRNA blocked TGF-β mediated MesoMT. TGF-β was also found to significantly induce uPA expression in PMCs undergoing MesoMT. Like uPAR, uPA downregulation blocked TGF-β mediated MesoMT. Further, uPAR is critical for uPA mediated MesoMT. LRP1 downregulation likewise blunted TGF-β mediated MesoMT. These findings are consistent with in vivo analyses, which showed that uPAR knockout mice were protected from S. pneumoniae-mediated decrements in lung function and restriction. Histological assessments of pleural fibrosis including pleural thickening and α-SMA expression were likewise reduced in uPAR knockout mice compared to WT mice. These studies strongly support the concept that uPAR targeting strategies could be beneficial for the treatment of PF.
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