Aberrant cell migration contributes to defective airway epithelial repair in childhood wheeze.

ABSTRACT: Abnormal wound repair has been observed in the airway epithelium of patients with chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma. Therapies focusing on repairing vulnerable airways, particularly in early life, present a potentially novel treatment strategy. We report defective lower airway epithelial cell repair to strongly associate with common pre-school-aged and school-aged wheezing phenotypes, characterized by aberrant migration patterns and reduced integrin α5β1 expression. Next generation sequencing identified the PI3K/Akt pathway as the top upstream transcriptional regulator of integrin α5β1, where Akt activation enhanced repair and integrin α5β1 expression in primary cultures from children with wheeze. Conversely, inhibition of PI3K/Akt signaling in primary cultures from children w

SUBMITTER: Iosifidis T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7205257 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature