Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, 96 Jonathan Lucas Street, MSC637, SC, USA.
Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, 96 Jonathan Lucas Street, MSC637, SC, USA.
Matrix Biol. 2024 Sep;132:24-33. doi: 10.1016/j.matbio.2024.06.002. Epub 2024 Jun 7.
Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a clinically severe and commonly fatal complication of Systemic Sclerosis (SSc). Our group has previously reported profibrotic roles for Insulin-like Growth Factor II (IGF-II) and Lysyl Oxidase (LOX) in SSc-PF. We sought to identify downstream regulatory mediators of IGF-II. In the present work, we show that SSc lung tissues have higher baseline levels of the total (N-glycosylated/unglycosylated) LOX-Propeptide (LOX-PP) than control lung tissues. LOX-PP-mediated changes were consistent with the extracellular matrix (ECM) deregulation implicated in SSc-PF progression. Furthermore, Tolloid-like 1 (TLL1) and Bone Morphogenetic Protein 1 (BMP1), enzymes that can cleave ProLOX to release LOX-PP, were increased in SSc lung fibrosis and the bleomycin (BLM)-induced murine lung fibrosis model, respectively. In addition, IGF-II regulated the levels of ProLOX, active LOX, LOX-PP, BMP1, and isoforms of TLL1. The Class E Basic Helix-Loop-Helix protein 40 (BHLHE40) transcription factor localized to the nucleus in response to IGF-II. BHLHE40 silencing downregulated TLL1 isoforms and LOX-PP, and restored features of ECM deregulation triggered by IGF-II. Our findings indicate that IGF-II, BHLHE40, and LOX-PP may serve as targets of therapeutic intervention to halt SSc-PF progression.
肺纤维化(PF)是系统性硬化症(SSc)的一种严重且常见的致命并发症。我们的团队之前曾报道过胰岛素样生长因子 II(IGF-II)和赖氨酰氧化酶(LOX)在 SSc-PF 中的促纤维化作用。我们试图确定 IGF-II 的下游调节介质。在本工作中,我们表明 SSc 肺组织中的总(糖基化/非糖基化)LOX-前肽(LOX-PP)基线水平高于对照肺组织。LOX-PP 介导的变化与 SSc-PF 进展中涉及的细胞外基质(ECM)失调一致。此外,Tolloid-like 1(TLL1)和骨形态发生蛋白 1(BMP1),可将 ProLOX 切割释放 LOX-PP 的酶,在 SSc 肺纤维化和博来霉素(BLM)诱导的小鼠肺纤维化模型中分别增加。此外,IGF-II 调节 ProLOX、活性 LOX、LOX-PP、BMP1 和 TLL1 的同工型水平。Class E Basic Helix-Loop-Helix protein 40(BHLHE40)转录因子在 IGF-II 作用下定位于细胞核。BHLHE40 沉默下调 TLL1 同工型和 LOX-PP,并恢复 IGF-II 触发的 ECM 失调特征。我们的研究结果表明,IGF-II、BHLHE40 和 LOX-PP 可能作为治疗干预的靶点,以阻止 SSc-PF 的进展。