Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0034069 (pulmonary fibrosis)
 7,050 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive fibrotic lung disease where invasive pulmonary myofibroblasts secrete collagen and destroy lung integrity. Here, we show that interleukin-11 (IL11) is up-regulated in the lung of patients with IPF, associated with disease severity, and IL-11 is secreted from IPF fibroblasts. In vitro, IL-11 stimulates lung fibroblasts to become invasive actin alpha 2, smooth muscle-positive (ACTA2+), collagen-secreting myofibroblasts in an extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-dependent, posttranscriptional manner. In mice, fibroblast-specific transgenic expression or administration of murine IL-11 induces lung myofibroblasts and causes lung fibrosis. IL-11 receptor subunit alpha-1 (Il11ra1)-deleted mice, whose lung fibroblasts are unresponsive to profibrotic stimulation, are protected from fibrosis in the bleomycin mouse model of pulmonary fibrosis. We generated an IL-11-neutralizing antibody that blocks lung fibroblast activation downstream of multiple stimuli and reverses myofibroblast activation. In therapeutic studies, anti-IL-11 treatment diminished lung inflammation and reversed lung fibrosis while inhibiting ERK and SMAD activation in mice. These data prioritize IL-11 as a drug target for lung fibrosis and IPF.
 ...
PMID:Interleukin-11 is a therapeutic target in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. 3155 36

Alveolar epithelial cell (AEC) injury is central to the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. Epithelial FGF (fibroblast growth factor) signaling is essential for recovery from hyperoxia- and influenza-induced lung injury, and treatment with FGFs is protective in experimental lung injury. The cell types involved in the protective effect of FGFs are not known. We hypothesized that FGF signaling in type II AECs (AEC2s) is critical in bleomycin-induced lung injury and fibrosis. To test this hypothesis, we generated mice with tamoxifen-inducible deletion of FGFR1-3 (fibroblast growth factor receptors 1, 2, and 3) in surfactant protein C-positive (SPC+) AEC2s (SPC triple conditional knockout [SPC-TCKO]). In the absence of injury, SPC-TCKO mice had fewer AEC2s, decreased Sftpc (surfactant protein C gene) expression, increased alveolar diameter, and increased collagen deposition. After intratracheal bleomycin administration, SPC-TCKO mice had increased mortality, lung edema, and BAL total protein, and flow cytometry and immunofluorescence revealed a loss of AEC2s. To reduce mortality of SPC-TCKO mice to less than 50%, a 25-fold dose reduction of bleomycin was required. Surviving bleomycin-injured SPC-TCKO mice had increased collagen deposition, fibrosis, and ACTA2 expression and decreased epithelial gene expression. Inducible inactivation of individual Fgfr2 or Fgfr3 revealed that Fgfr2, but not Fgfr3, was responsible for the increased mortality and lung injury after bleomycin administration. In conclusion, AEC2-specific FGFR2 is critical for survival in response to bleomycin-induced lung injury. These data also suggest that a population of SPC+ AEC2s require FGFR2 signaling for maintenance in the adult lung. Preventing epithelial FGFR inhibition and/or activating FGFRs in alveolar epithelium may therefore represent a novel approach to treating lung injury and reducing fibrosis.
 ...
PMID:FGFR2 Is Required for AEC2 Homeostasis and Survival after Bleomycin-induced Lung Injury. 3194 Apr 43

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is the first cause of death worldwide, generally exhibiting a high morbidity, high disability rate and high mortality especially in the elderly persons (>50 years old). Previously, extensive studies have demonstrated that cardiac fibrosis plays cardinal roles in the pathogenesis of CVDs. However, due to the unclear underlying mechanisms of cardiac fibrosis, its clinical intervention remains very lacking. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a class of non-coding RNA but differing from microRNAs, are generally considered as transcripts with a length ranging 200 to 100 nucleotides. Recently, accumulating evidence showed that lncRNAs involve in the pathogenesis of cardiac fibrosis. Fendrr (FOXF1 adjacent non-coding developmental regulatory RNA), is a spliced long non-coding RNA transcribed bi-directionally with FOXF1 on the opposite strand. Fendrr has been demonstrated to be essential for normal development of the heart and body wall in mouse, and shows a good anti-fibrotic activity in pulmonary fibrosis. In this study, we aimed to explore the effects of Fendrr on cardiac fibrosis. Intriguingly, we first observed that lncRNA Fendrr was up-regulated in the heart tissues of transverse aortic constriction (TAC) induced cardiac fibrosis mouse models, determined by RT-QPCR. Loss-function of Fendrr significantly alleviated the cardiac fibrosis phenotypes induced by TAC, indicating that Fendrr is required for the pathogenesis of cardiac fibrosis. In mechanism, we demonstrated experimentally that Fendrr directly targeting miR-106b, by which the lncRNA promotes cardiac fibrosis (indicated by the elevation of Col1a1, Col3a1, CTGF and ACTA2 expression) in a miR-106b mediated manner. Collectively, our findings highlight the axis of Fendrr/miR-106b/Samd3 in the pathogenesis of cardiac fibrosis, which may be a promising target for clinical intervention target of cardiac fibrosis.
 ...
PMID:Fendrr involves in the pathogenesis of cardiac fibrosis via regulating miR-106b/SMAD3 axis. 3198 34

Excessive release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) has been implicated in several organ fibrosis, including pulmonary fibrosis. NETs constitute a phenomenon in which decorated nuclear chromatin with cytosolic proteins is released into the extracellular space. PAD4 (peptidylarginine deiminase 4) plays an important role in the formation of NETs. However, the role of NETs in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis remains undefined. Here, we identified NETs in the alveolar and interstitial lung space of mice undergoing bleomycin (BLM)-induced lung fibrosis, which was suppressed by a pan-PAD inhibitor, Cl-amidine. In vitro, BLM directly induced NETs in blood neutrophils, which was also inhibited by Cl-amidine. Furthermore, Padi4 gene knockout (PAD4-KO) in mice led to the alleviation of BLM-induced NETs and pulmonary fibrosis and to the expression of inflammatory and fibrotic genes. PAD4 deficiency prevented decreases in alveolar epithelial and pulmonary vascular endothelial cell numbers and increases in ACTA2-positive mesenchymal cells and S100A4-positive fibroblasts in the lung. Hematopoietic cell grafts from PAD4-KO mice, not wild-type mice, resolved BLM-induced lung fibrosis and fibrotic gene expression in wild-type and PAD4-KO mice, suggesting that expression of PAD4 in hematopoietic cells may be involved in the development of lung fibrosis. These data suggest that PAD4 deficiency could ameliorate BLM-induced formation of NETs and lung fibrosis, suggesting that this pathway could serve as a therapeutic target for pulmonary fibrosis treatment.
 ...
PMID:PAD4 Deficiency Improves Bleomycin-induced Neutrophil Extracellular Traps and Fibrosis in Mouse Lung. 3291 35