Exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) reduces contractile response of small airways from GSTCD-/- mice

Remote regulation of rs80245547 and rs72673891 mediated by transcription factors C-Jun and CREB1 affect GSTCD expression

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of death worldwide, is influenced by genetic factors. The genetic signal rs10516526 in the glutathione S-transferase C-terminal domain containing (GSTCD) gene is a highly significant and reproducible signal associated with lung function and COPD on chromosome 4q24. In this study, comprehensive bioinformatics analyses and experimental verifications were detailly implemented to explore the regulation mechanism of rs10516526 and GSTCD in COPD. The results suggested that low expression of GSTCD was associated with COPD (p = 0.010). And C-Jun and CREB1 transcription factors were found to be essential for the regulation of GSTCD by rs80245547 and rs72673891. Moreover, rs80245547T and rs72673891G had a stronger binding ability to these transcription factors, which may promote the allele-specific long-range enhancer-promoter interactions on GSTCD, thus making COPD less susceptible. Our study provides a new insight into the relationship between rs10516526, GSTCD, and COPD.

The Use of Precision‐Cut Lung Slices for Studying Innate Immunity to Viral Infections

Precision‐cut lung slices (PCLS) are a novel tool to study cells of the lower airways. As PCLS retain the integrity and architecture of the lung, they constitute a robust model for studying the cells of the lower respiratory tract. Use of PCLS for imaging has been previously documented; however, other applications and techniques can also be applied to PCLS to increase their use and therefore decrease the number of animals needed for each experiment. We present a detailed protocol for generating PCLS from the murine lung. We show that cultured PCLS remain viable up to at least 8 days of culture, that RNA can be isolated from the tissue, and that flow cytometry can be carried out on the cells obtained from the PCLS. Furthermore, we demonstrate that cytokines and chemokines can be detected in the culture supernatants of PCLS exposed to viruses. Overall, these protocols expand the use of PCLS, especially for infection studies. © 2022 The Authors. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Basic Protocol 1: Precision‐cut lung slices (PCLS)

Basic Protocol 2: PCLS culture and viability

Basic Protocol 3: RNA isolation from PCLS, cDNA conversion, and RT‐qPCR

Basic Protocol 4: Staining of cells from PCLS for flow cytometry

Basic Protocol 5: In vivo RSV administration and ex vivo PCLS RSV exposure