scholarly journals Signaling Control of Mucociliary Epithelia: Stem Cells, Cell Fates, and the Plasticity of Cell Identity in Development and Disease

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Peter Walentek

Mucociliary epithelia are composed of multiciliated, secretory, and stem cells and line various organs in vertebrates such as the respiratory tract. By means of mucociliary clearance, those epithelia provide a first line of defense against inhaled particles and pathogens. Mucociliary clearance relies on the correct composition of cell types, that is, the proper balance of ciliated and secretory cells. A failure to generate and to maintain correct cell type composition and function results in impaired clearance and high risk to infections, such as in congenital diseases (e.g., ciliopathies) as well as in acquired diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). While it remains incompletely resolved how precisely cell types are specified and maintained in development and disease, many studies have revealed important mechanisms regarding the signaling control in mucociliary cell types in various species. Those studies not only provided insights into the signaling contribution to organ development and regeneration but also highlighted the remarkable plasticity of cell identity encountered in mucociliary maintenance, including frequent trans-differentiation events during homeostasis and specifically in disease. This review will summarize major findings and provide perspectives regarding the future of mucociliary research and the treatment of chronic airway diseases associated with tissue remodeling.

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Michael Roth

Epithelial cells, fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells together form and give structure to the airway wall. These three tissue forming cell types are structure giving elements and participate in the immune response to inhaled particles including allergens and dust. All three cell types actively contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Tissue forming cells respond directly to allergens through activated immunoglobulins which then bind to their corresponding cell surface receptors. It was only recently reported that allergens and particles traffic through epithelial cells without modification and bind to the immunoglobulin receptors on the surface of sub-epithelial mesenchymal cells. In consequence, these cells secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines, thereby extending the local inflammation. Furthermore, activation of the immunoglobulin receptors can induce proliferation and tissue remodeling of the tissue forming cells. New studies using anti-IgE antibody therapy indicate that the inhibition of immunoglobulins reduces the response of tissue forming cells. The unmeasured questions are: (i) why do tissue forming cells express immunoglobulin receptors and (ii) do tissue forming cells process immunoglobulin receptor bound particles? The focus of this review is to provide an overview of the expression and function of various immunoglobulin receptors.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2407
Author(s):  
Ruicen He ◽  
Arthur Dantas ◽  
Karl Riabowol

Acetylation of histones is a key epigenetic modification involved in transcriptional regulation. The addition of acetyl groups to histone tails generally reduces histone-DNA interactions in the nucleosome leading to increased accessibility for transcription factors and core transcriptional machinery to bind their target sequences. There are approximately 30 histone acetyltransferases and their corresponding complexes, each of which affect the expression of a subset of genes. Because cell identity is determined by gene expression profile, it is unsurprising that the HATs responsible for inducing expression of these genes play a crucial role in determining cell fate. Here, we explore the role of HATs in the maintenance and differentiation of various stem cell types. Several HAT complexes have been characterized to play an important role in activating genes that allow stem cells to self-renew. Knockdown or loss of their activity leads to reduced expression and or differentiation while particular HATs drive differentiation towards specific cell fates. In this study we review functions of the HAT complexes active in pluripotent stem cells, hematopoietic stem cells, muscle satellite cells, mesenchymal stem cells, neural stem cells, and cancer stem cells.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 536-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Coppolino ◽  
Paolo Ruggeri ◽  
Francesco Nucera ◽  
Mario Francesco Cannavò ◽  
Ian Adcock ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 3832
Author(s):  
Massa Zantah ◽  
Aloknath Pandya ◽  
Michael R. Jacobs ◽  
Gerard J. Criner

High-flow nasal therapy (HFNT) is a unique system that delivers humidified, heated oxygen-enriched air via nasal cannula at high flow rates. It is a promising therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Several studies have examined the physiologic effects of this therapy in the patient population and have revealed that it improves mucociliary clearance, reduces nasopharyngeal dead space, and subsequently increases CO2 washout. It also improves alveolar recruitment and gas exchange. These mechanisms may explain the promising results observed in recently published studies that examined the role of HFNT in stable COPD patients.


2016 ◽  
Vol 311 (6) ◽  
pp. L1113-L1140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. S. Prakash

Airway structure and function are key aspects of normal lung development, growth, and aging, as well as of lung responses to the environment and the pathophysiology of important diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and fibrosis. In this regard, the contributions of airway smooth muscle (ASM) are both functional, in the context of airway contractility and relaxation, as well as synthetic, involving production and modulation of extracellular components, modulation of the local immune environment, cellular contribution to airway structure, and, finally, interactions with other airway cell types such as epithelium, fibroblasts, and nerves. These ASM contributions are now found to be critical in airway hyperresponsiveness and remodeling that occur in lung diseases. This review emphasizes established and recent discoveries that underline the central role of ASM and sets the stage for future research toward understanding how ASM plays a central role by being both upstream and downstream in the many interactive processes that determine airway structure and function in health and disease.


Physiology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Hagood

The lung develops from a very simple outpouching of the foregut into a highly complex, finely structured organ with multiple specialized cell types that are required for its normal physiological function. During both the development of the lung and its remodeling in the context of disease or response to injury, gene expression must be activated and silenced in a coordinated manner to achieve the tremendous phenotypic heterogeneity of cell types required for homeostasis and pathogenesis. Epigenetic mechanisms, consisting of DNA base modifications such as methylation, alteration of histones resulting in chromatin modification, and the action of noncoding RNA, control the regulation of information “beyond the genome” required for both lung modeling and remodeling. Epigenetic regulation is subject to modification by environmental stimuli, such as oxidative stress, infection, and aging, and is thus critically important in chronic remodeling disorders such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), and pulmonary hypertension (PH). Technological advances have made it possible to evaluate genome-wide epigenetic changes (epigenomics) in diseases of lung remodeling, clarifying existing pathophysiological paradigms and uncovering novel mechanisms of disease. Many of these represent new therapeutic targets. Advances in epigenomic technology will accelerate our understanding of lung development and remodeling, and lead to novel treatments for chronic lung diseases.


2015 ◽  
Vol 308 (1) ◽  
pp. L96-L103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loes E. M. Kistemaker ◽  
Ronald P. van Os ◽  
Albertina Dethmers-Ausema ◽  
I. Sophie T. Bos ◽  
Machteld N. Hylkema ◽  
...  

Anticholinergics, blocking the muscarinic M3 receptor, are effective bronchodilators for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Recent evidence from M3 receptor-deficient mice (M3R−/−) indicates that M3 receptors also regulate neutrophilic inflammation in response to cigarette smoke (CS). M3 receptors are present on almost all cell types, and in this study we investigated the relative contribution of M3 receptors on structural cells vs. inflammatory cells to CS-induced inflammation using bone marrow chimeric mice. Bone marrow chimeras (C56Bl/6 mice) were generated, and engraftment was confirmed after 10 wk. Thereafter, irradiated and nonirradiated control animals were exposed to CS or fresh air for four consecutive days. CS induced a significant increase in neutrophil numbers in nonirradiated and irradiated control animals (4- to 35-fold). Interestingly, wild-type animals receiving M3R−/− bone marrow showed a similar increase in neutrophil number (15-fold). In contrast, no increase in the number of neutrophils was observed in M3R−/− animals receiving wild-type bone marrow. The increase in keratinocyte-derived chemokine (KC) levels was similar in all smoke-exposed groups (2.5- to 5.0-fold). Microarray analysis revealed that fibrinogen-α and CD177, both involved in neutrophil migration, were downregulated in CS-exposed M3R−/− animals receiving wild-type bone marrow compared with CS-exposed wild-type animals, which was confirmed by RT-qPCR (1.6–2.5 fold). These findings indicate that the M3 receptor on structural cells plays a proinflammatory role in CS-induced neutrophilic inflammation, whereas the M3 receptor on inflammatory cells does not. This effect is probably not mediated via KC release, but may involve altered adhesion and transmigration of neutrophils via fibrinogen-α and CD177.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyu Zhao ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Wenxuan Deng ◽  
Ming Chen ◽  
Zihan Dong ◽  
...  

Abstract Finding disease-relevant tissues and cell types can facilitate the identification and investigation of functional genes and variants. In particular, cell type proportions can serve as potential disease predictive biomarkers. Here, we introduce a novel statistical framework, cell-type Wide Association Study (cWAS), that integrates genetic data with transcriptomics data to identify cell types whose genetically regulated proportions (GRPs) are disease/trait-associated. On simulated and real GWAS data, cWAS showed substantial statistical power with newly identified significant GRP associations in disease-associated tissues. More specifically, GRPs of endothelial and myofibroblast in the lung tissue were associated with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, respectively. For breast cancer, the GRP of blood CD8+ T cells was negatively associated with breast cancer (BC) risk as well as survival. Overall, cWAS is a powerful tool to reveal cell types associated with complex diseases mediated by GRPs.


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