John W. Deming Department of Medicine, Tulane Eosinophilic Disorders Center (TEDC), Section of Pulmonary Diseases, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
John W. Deming Department of Medicine, Tulane Eosinophilic Disorders Center (TEDC), Section of Pulmonary Diseases, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
Mol Immunol. 2023 Mar;155:100-109. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2023.01.012. Epub 2023 Feb 7.
Lung injury is the most common secondary complication of pancreatitis and pancreatic malignancy. Around 60-70% of pancreatitis-related deaths are caused by lung injury; however, there is no animal model of the inflammation-mediated progressive pulmonary pathological events that contribute to acute lung injury in chronic pancreatitis (CP). Hence, we developed an inflammation-mediated mouse model and studied the pathological events that have a critical role in promoting the pathogenesis of lung injury. Our proteomic analysis of lung tissue revealed neutrophil-associated induction of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and myeloperoxidase enzyme, further supporting a role for neutrophils in promoting IL-18-associated lung injury. We show that neutrophils released IL-18-induced p-NF-κB along with profibrotic and oncogenic proteins like TTF1, PDX1, and SOX9 in lung tissues of a mouse model of chronic pancreatitis. We also show that neutrophil infiltration induces TGF-β and SMAD4 and activates epithelial cells to produce other profibrotic proteins like ZO-1 and MUC2, along with the fibroblast markers FGF-1 and αSMA, that cause mesenchymal transition and accumulation of extracellular matrix collagen. Most importantly, we present evidence that IL-18 inhibition significantly alleviates CP-induced lung injury. This was further established by the finding that IL-18 gene-deficient mice showed improved lung injury by inhibition of TGF-β and fibroblast to mesenchymal transition and reduced collagen accumulation. The present study suggests that inhibition of IL-18 may be a novel treatment for CP-associated induced acute lung injury.
肺损伤是胰腺炎和胰腺恶性肿瘤最常见的继发性并发症。约 60-70%的胰腺炎相关死亡是由肺损伤引起的;然而,目前尚没有炎症介导的进行性肺病理事件的动物模型,这些事件导致慢性胰腺炎(CP)中的急性肺损伤。因此,我们建立了一种炎症介导的小鼠模型,并研究了在促进肺损伤发病机制中起关键作用的病理事件。我们对肺组织的蛋白质组学分析显示,中性粒细胞相关诱导的中性粒细胞明胶酶相关脂质运载蛋白(NGAL)和髓过氧化物酶酶,进一步支持中性粒细胞在促进 IL-18 相关肺损伤中的作用。我们表明,中性粒细胞释放的 IL-18 诱导 p-NF-κB 以及 TTF1、PDX1 和 SOX9 等促纤维化和致癌蛋白,在慢性胰腺炎小鼠模型的肺组织中。我们还表明,中性粒细胞浸润诱导 TGF-β 和 SMAD4,并激活上皮细胞产生其他促纤维化蛋白,如 ZO-1 和 MUC2,以及成纤维细胞标志物 FGF-1 和 αSMA,导致间充质转化和细胞外基质胶原积累。最重要的是,我们提供了证据表明 IL-18 抑制可显著减轻 CP 引起的肺损伤。这进一步通过发现 IL-18 基因缺陷小鼠通过抑制 TGF-β 和成纤维细胞向间充质转化以及减少胶原积累来改善肺损伤得到证实。本研究表明,抑制 IL-18 可能是治疗 CP 相关诱导性急性肺损伤的一种新方法。