Lung fibroblasts express a miR-19a-19b-20a sub-cluster to suppress TGF-β-associated fibroblast activation in murine pulmonary fibrosis

Sci Rep. 2018 Nov 9;8(1):16642. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-34839-0.

Abstract

Lung fibroblasts play a pivotal role in pulmonary fibrosis, a devastating lung disease, by producing extracellular matrix. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) suppress numerous genes post-transcriptionally; however, the roles of miRNAs in activated fibroblasts in fibrotic lungs remain poorly understood. To elucidate these roles, we performed global miRNA-expression profiling of fibroblasts from bleomycin- and silica-induced fibrotic lungs and investigated the functions of miRNAs in activated lung fibroblasts. Clustering analysis of global miRNA-expression data identified miRNA signatures exhibiting increased expression during fibrosis progression. Among these signatures, we found that a miR-19a-19b-20a sub-cluster suppressed TGF-β-induced activation of fibroblasts in vitro. Moreover, to elucidate whether fibroblast-specific intervention against the sub-cluster modulates pathogenic activation of fibroblasts in fibrotic lungs, we intratracheally transferred the sub-cluster-overexpressing fibroblasts into bleomycin-treated lungs. Global transcriptome analysis of the intratracheally transferred fibroblasts revealed that the sub-cluster not only downregulated expression of TGF-β-associated pro-fibrotic genes, including Acta2, Col1a1, Ctgf, and Serpine1, but also upregulated expression of the anti-fibrotic genes Dcn, Igfbp5, and Mmp3 in activated lung fibroblasts. Collectively, these findings indicated that upregulation of the miR-19a-19b-20a sub-cluster expression in lung fibroblasts counteracted TGF-β-associated pathogenic activation of fibroblasts in murine pulmonary fibrosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / toxicity
  • Bleomycin / toxicity
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Female
  • Fibroblasts / cytology
  • Fibroblasts / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis / chemically induced
  • Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis / genetics
  • Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis / metabolism
  • Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis / pathology*
  • Lung / cytology
  • Lung / metabolism*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II / genetics
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II / metabolism
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / genetics
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / metabolism*

Substances

  • Antibiotics, Antineoplastic
  • MIRN19 microRNA, mouse
  • MIRN19a microRNA, mouse
  • MicroRNAs
  • Mirn20 microRNA, mouse
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta1
  • Bleomycin
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II
  • Tgfbr2 protein, mouse