ABSTRACT: We generated genome-wide DNA methylation maps at single CpG resolution of primary human lung AT2 cells isolated from distal parenchyma of ex-smoker controls and COPD patients, with both mild and severe disease
Project description:We generated transcriptomes of primary human lung AT2 cells isolated from distal parenchyma of ex-smoker controls and COPD patients, with both mild and severe disease.
Project description:Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are still waiting for curative treatments. Considering the environmental cause of COPD (e.g., cigarette smoke) and disease phenotypes, including stem-cell senescence and impaired differentiation, we hypothesized that COPD will be associated with altered epigenetic signaling in lung cells. We generated genome-wide DNA methylation maps at single CpG resolution of primary human lung fibroblasts (HLFs) isolated from distal parenchyma of ex-smoker controls and COPD patients, with both mild and severe disease. The epigenetic landscape is markedly changed in lung fibroblasts across COPD stages, with DNA methylation changes occurring predominantly in regulatory regions, including promoters and enhancers.
Project description:We generated transcriptomes of primary human lung fibroblasts (HLFs) isolated from distal parenchyma of ex-smoker controls and COPD patients, with both mild and severe disease. RNA sequencing analysis demonstrated dysregulation of genes involved in proliferation, DNA repair, and extracellular matrix organization.
Project description:Transcriptome analysis of primary bronchial epithelial cells from healthy, ex-smoker COPD and current smoker COPD patients cultured in ALI conditions
Project description:Single cell RNAseq of primary bronchial epithelial cells from healthy, ex-smoker COPD and current smoker COPD patients cultured in ALI conditions
Project description:ATAC-seq analysis of primary bronchial epithelial cells from healthy, ex-smoker COPD and current smoker COPD patients cultured in ALI conditions
Project description:Single cell ATACseq of primary bronchial epithelial cells from healthy, ex-smoker COPD and current smoker COPD patients cultured in ALI conditions
Project description:COPD is a heterogeneous condition without effective disease modifying therapies. Identification of novel inflammatory endotype markers such as extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are important intercellular messengers carrying microRNA (miRNA), may enable earlier diagnosis and disease stratification for a targeted treatment approach. Our aim was to identify differentially expressed EV miRNA in the lungs of COPD patients compared with healthy ex-smokers and determine whether they can help define inflammatory COPD endotypes. EV miRNA were isolated and sequenced from ex-smoking COPD patients and healthy ex-smoker bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Results were validated with RT-qPCR and compared to differential inflammatory cell counts. Differential expression analysis identified five upregulated miRNA in COPD (miR-223-3p, miR-2110, miR-182-5p, miR-200b-5p and miR-625-3p) and three downregulated miRNA (miR-138-5p, miR-338-3p and miR-204-5p), all with a log2 fold change of >1/-1, FDR<0.05. These miRNAs correlated with disease defining characteristics such as FEF 25-75% (a small airways disease measure) and DLCO % (a surrogate measure of emphysema). Receiver operator curve analysis demonstrated miR-2110, miR-223-3p and miR-182-5p showed excellent combinatory predictive ability (AUC 0.91, p<0.0001) in differentiating between health and mild COPD. Furthermore, miR-223-3p and miR-338-3p correlated with airway eosinophilia and were able to distinguish “pure eosinophilic” COPD from other airway inflammatory subtypes (AUC 0.94 and 0.85 respectively). This is the first study to identify differentially expressed miRNA in COPD bronchoalveolar lavage fluid EVs. These findings suggest specific lung derived EV miRNA are a strong predictor of disease presence even in mild COPD. Furthermore, specific miRNA correlated with inflammatory cell numbers in COPD, and may have a role in defining inflammatory endotypes for future treatment stratification.
Project description:Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive disease that obstructs the airflow from the lungs, and tobacco smoking is the major cause of COPD. Here, we applied single-cell RNA sequencing to analyze COPD pathogenesis in COPD patients, non-COPD smokers and never-smokers and investigated the disease progression at single-cell resolution. By single-cell transcriptome analysis, we identified a novel subpopulation of Alveolar Type 2 epithelial cells that emerged in smokers, such as COPD patients, and specifically expressed a series of chemokines and PD-L1. Since the number of cells in the basal cell clusters increased in only the COPD lungs but not in the non-COPD smoker or never-smoker lungs, we also tried to clarify the difference in phenotype between COPD and other basal cells with single-cell RNA-seq. However, due to the small number of cells in each, no clear difference could be found. To further investigate the functional properties of basal cells in COPD, we isolated small airway epithelial cells from surgical samples of COPD or never-smoker lungs and expanded the cells in vitro.Total RNA was extracted from early passaged cells , and bulk RNA-seq was performed to characterize these cells in detail. Finally, we found that the COPD basal cells retained the inflammatory response and basal/stem-related signals, even after a few passages in culture, and it might cause basal cell expansion in vivo.
