| First Author | Suliman HB | Year | 2022 |
| Journal | iScience | Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 103535 |
| PubMed ID | 34977500 | Mgi Jnum | J:322123 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6845037 | Doi | 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103535 |
| Citation | Suliman HB, et al. (2022) Nuclear respiratory factor-1 negatively regulates TGF-beta1 and attenuates pulmonary fibrosis. iScience 25(1):103535 |
| abstractText | The preclinical model of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis is useful to study mechanisms related to human pulmonary fibrosis. Using BLM in mice, we find low HO-1 expression. Although a unique Rhenium-CO-releasing molecule (ReCORM) up-regulates HO-1, NRF-1, CCN5, and SMAD7, it reduces TGFbeta1, TGFbetar1, collagen, alpha-SMA, and phosphorylated Smad2/3 levels in mouse lung and in human lung fibroblasts. ChIP assay studies confirm NRF-1 binding to the promoters of TGFbeta1 repressors CCN5 and Smad7. ReCORM did not blunt lung fibrosis in Hmox1-deficient alveolar type 2 cell knockout mice, suggesting this gene participates in lung protection. In human lung fibroblasts, TGFbeta1-dependent production of alpha-SMA is abolished by ReCORM or by NRF-1 gene transfection. We demonstrate effective HO-1/NRF-1 signaling in lung AT2 cells protects against BLM induced lung injury and fibrosis by maintaining mitochondrial health, function, and suppressing the TGFbeta1 pathway. Thus, protection of AT2 cell mitochondrial integrity via HO-1/NRF-1 presents an innovative therapeutic target. |
