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Yeung-Luk BH, Wally A, Swaby C, Jauregui S, Lee E, Zhang R, Chen D, Luk SH, Upadya N, Tieng E, Wilmsen K, Sherman E, Sudhakar D, Luk M, Shrivastav AK, Cao S, Ghosh B, Christenson SA, Huang YJ, Ortega VE, Biswal S, Tang WY, Sidhaye VK. Epigenetic Reprogramming Drives Epithelial Disruption in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2024; 70:165-177. [PMID: 37976469 PMCID: PMC10914773 DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2023-0147oc] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 11/17/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains a major public health challenge that contributes greatly to mortality and morbidity worldwide. Although it has long been recognized that the epithelium is altered in COPD, there has been little focus on targeting it to modify the disease course. Therefore, mechanisms that disrupt epithelial cell function in patients with COPD are poorly understood. In this study, we sought to determine whether epigenetic reprogramming of the cell-cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin, encoded by the CDH1 gene, disrupts epithelial integrity. By reducing these epigenetic marks, we can restore epithelial integrity and rescue alveolar airspace destruction. We used differentiated normal and COPD-derived primary human airway epithelial cells, genetically manipulated mouse tracheal epithelial cells, and mouse and human precision-cut lung slices to assess the effects of epigenetic reprogramming. We show that the loss of CDH1 in COPD is due to increased DNA methylation site at the CDH1 enhancer D through the downregulation of the ten-eleven translocase methylcytosine dioxygenase (TET) enzyme TET1. Increased DNA methylation at the enhancer D region decreases the enrichment of RNA polymerase II binding. Remarkably, treatment of human precision-cut slices derived from patients with COPD with the DNA demethylation agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine decreased cell damage and reduced air space enlargement in the diseased tissue. Here, we present a novel mechanism that targets epigenetic modifications to reverse the tissue remodeling in human COPD lungs and serves as a proof of concept for developing a disease-modifying target.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ara Wally
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Carter Swaby
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Sofia Jauregui
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Esther Lee
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Rachel Zhang
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Daniel Chen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Sean H. Luk
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and
| | - Nisha Upadya
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Ethan Tieng
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Kai Wilmsen
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and
| | - Ethan Sherman
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Dheeksha Sudhakar
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Matthew Luk
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and
| | - Abhishek Kumar Shrivastav
- Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
| | - Shuo Cao
- Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
| | | | - Stephanie A. Christenson
- Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
| | - Yvonne J. Huang
- Department of Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; and
| | | | - Shyam Biswal
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and
| | - Wan-yee Tang
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Venkataramana K. Sidhaye
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering and
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
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