Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California, USA.
UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA.
JCI Insight. 2019 Dec 19;4(24):130056. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.130056.
Accumulation of senescent cells is associated with the progression of pulmonary fibrosis, but mechanisms accounting for this linkage are not well understood. To explore this issue, we investigated whether a class of biologically active profibrotic lipids, the leukotrienes (LT), is part of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype. The analysis of conditioned medium (CM), lipid extracts, and gene expression of LT biosynthesis enzymes revealed that senescent cells secreted LT, regardless of the origin of the cells or the modality of senescence induction. The synthesis of LT was biphasic and followed by antifibrotic prostaglandin (PG) secretion. The LT-rich CM of senescent lung fibroblasts (IMR-90) induced profibrotic signaling in naive fibroblasts, which were abrogated by inhibitors of ALOX5, the principal enzyme in LT biosynthesis. The bleomycin-induced expression of genes encoding LT and PG synthases, level of cysteinyl LT in the bronchoalveolar lavage, and overall fibrosis were reduced upon senescent cell removal either in a genetic mouse model or after senolytic treatment. Quantification of ALOX5+ cells in lung explants obtained from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients indicated that half of these cells were also senescent (p16Ink4a+). Unlike human fibroblasts from unused donor lungs made senescent by irradiation, senescent IPF fibroblasts secreted LTs but failed to synthesize PGs. This study demonstrates for the first time to our knowledge that senescent cells secrete functional LTs, significantly contributing to the LT pool known to cause or exacerbate IPF.
衰老细胞的积累与肺纤维化的进展有关,但导致这种联系的机制尚不清楚。为了探讨这个问题,我们研究了一类生物活性的促纤维化脂质,即白三烯(LT),是否是衰老相关分泌表型的一部分。对条件培养基(CM)、脂质提取物和 LT 生物合成酶的基因表达的分析表明,衰老细胞分泌 LT,无论细胞的来源或衰老诱导方式如何。LT 的合成呈双相,并随后分泌抗纤维化的前列腺素(PG)。衰老的肺成纤维细胞(IMR-90)的富含 LT 的 CM 诱导幼稚成纤维细胞产生促纤维化信号,而 LT 生物合成的主要酶 ALOX5 的抑制剂可阻断这种信号。在用博来霉素诱导的基因表达中,编码 LT 和 PG 合酶的基因、肺泡灌洗液中的半胱氨酰 LT 水平以及整体纤维化程度,在遗传小鼠模型或衰老细胞清除后的 senolytic 治疗中均降低。对特发性肺纤维化(IPF)患者肺组织标本中 ALOX5+细胞的定量分析表明,这些细胞中有一半也是衰老的(p16Ink4a+)。与通过辐照使未使用的供体肺成纤维细胞衰老的人类成纤维细胞不同,衰老的 IPF 成纤维细胞分泌 LT,但未能合成 PG。这项研究首次表明,衰老细胞分泌功能性的 LT,这对已知导致或加重 IPF 的 LT 池有重要贡献。