Hunan Key Laboratory of Oral Health Research & Hunan 3D Printing Engineering Research Center of Oral Care & Academician Workstation for Oral-maxilofacial and Regenerative Medicine & Hunan Clinical Research Center of Oral Major Diseases and Oral Health & Xiangya Stomatological Hospital & Xiangya School of Stomatology, Central South University, Changsha, China.
J Cell Mol Med. 2023 Jul;27(13):1797-1805. doi: 10.1111/jcmm.17761. Epub 2023 Jun 19.
Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a chronic progressive fibrosis disease that affects in oral mucosal tissues. Interleukin (IL)-13 has been implicated in the development of fibrosis in multiple organs. Indeed, it contributes to diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis, liver cirrhosis among others. Currently, its expression in OSF and the specific mechanisms are not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of IL-13 in OSF and further explore whether IL-13 regulates-polarization of M2-macrophages in OSF. Initially, in the tissues of patients with OSF, we observed a high expression of M2-macrophages and IL-13 protein. Additionally, we found a correlation between the expression of IL-13 and the stage of OSF. Arecoline inhibited the proliferation of fibroblasts (FBs) and promoted IL-13 production in vitro. Furthermore, our observations revealed that M2-macrophages increased upon co-culturing M0-macrophages with supernatants containing the IL-13 cytokine. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that arecoline stimulates FBs leading to increased secretion of IL-13, which in turn IL-13 leads to polarization of M2-macrophages and promotes the occurrence of OSF. This suggests that IL-13 may be a potential therapeutic target of OSF.
口腔黏膜下纤维性变（OSF）是一种影响口腔黏膜组织的慢性进行性纤维化疾病。白细胞介素（IL）-13 已被牵涉到多个器官的纤维化发展中。事实上，它与肺纤维化、肝硬化等疾病有关。目前，其在 OSF 中的表达及其具体机制尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨 IL-13 在 OSF 中的作用，并进一步探讨 IL-13 是否调节 OSF 中 M2 巨噬细胞的极化。最初，在 OSF 患者的组织中，我们观察到 M2 巨噬细胞和 IL-13 蛋白的高表达。此外，我们发现 IL-13 的表达与 OSF 的阶段之间存在相关性。槟榔碱在体外抑制成纤维细胞（FBs）的增殖并促进 IL-13 的产生。此外，我们的观察结果表明，在与含有 IL-13 细胞因子的上清液共培养 M0 巨噬细胞后，M2 巨噬细胞增加。总之，我们的研究表明，槟榔碱刺激 FBs 导致 IL-13 的分泌增加，IL-13 反过来又导致 M2 巨噬细胞的极化，并促进 OSF 的发生。这表明 IL-13 可能是 OSF 的一个潜在治疗靶点。
