Bone morphogenetic proteins enhance an epithelial-mesenchymal transition in normal airway epithelial cells during restitution of a disrupted epithelium.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mechanisms of airway repair are poorly understood. It has been proposed that, following injury, progenitor populations such as club cells (Clara) become undifferentiated, proliferate and re-differentiate to re-epithelialise the airway. The exact phenotype of such cells during repair is unknown however. We hypothesised that airway epithelial cells (AECs) undergo some degree of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in order to migrate over a denuded airway and effect re-epithelialisation. Furthermore, based on our previous findings that BMP signalling is an early event in AECs following injury in vivo and that BMP4 down-regulates E-cadherin expression and enhances migration in AECs in vitro, we hypothesised that BMPs could play a role in inducing such a phenotypic switch

SUBMITTER: McCormack N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3607850 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature