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Glucocorticoid Regulates Mesenchymal Cell Differentiation Required for Perinatal Lung Morphogenesis and Function

ABSTRACT: We integrated genome-wide gene expression profiling, ATAC-seq, and single cell RNA-seq data in mice in which GR was deleted or activated to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which glucocorticoids control prenatal lung maturation. GR activated differentiation of a newly defined proliferative mesenchymal progenitor cell (PMP) into matrix fibroblasts (MFB), in part by directly activating extracellular matrix-associated target genes, including Fn1, Col16a4, and Eln and modulating FGF, VEGF, JAK-STAT and WNT signaling. Loss of mesenchymal GR signaling blocked PMP differentiation into mature MFB, which in turn caused proliferation of SOX9+ alveolar epithelial progenitor cells and inhibited differentiation of more mature AT2 and AT1 cells. GR signaling controls genes required for differentiation of a subset of proliferative mesenchymal progenitors into matrix fibroblasts in turn, regulating signals controlling AT2/AT1 progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation, identifying cells and processes by which glucocorticoid signaling regulates fetal lung function.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE136954 | GEO | 2020/06/04

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Alveoli are thin-walled sacs that serve as the gas exchange units of the lung. They are affected in devastating lung diseases including COPD, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, and the major form (adenocarcinoma) of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer deaths. The alveolar epithelium is composed of two morphologically distinct cell types: alveolar type (AT) 1 cells, exquisitely thin cells across which oxygen diffuses to reach the blood, and AT2 cells, specialized surfactant-secreting cells. Classical studies suggested that AT1 cells arise from AT2 cells during development and following injury, but more recent studies suggest other sources. Here we use histological and marker analysis, lineage tracing, and clonal analysis in mice to identify alveolar progenitor and stem cells and map their locations and potential in vivo. The results show that AT1 and AT2 cells arise independently during development from a bipotential progenitor. After birth, new AT1 cells derive from rare, long-lived, self-renewing AT2 cells, each producing a slowly expanding clonal focus of regenerated alveoli contiguous with the founder AT2 cell. This stem cell function of AT2 cells is broadly activated by diffuse AT1 cell injury, and AT2 self-renewal can be induced in vitro by EGF ligands and permanently activated in vivo by AT2 cell-specific targeting of the oncogenic KrasG12D allele, efficiently transforming AT2 cells into monoclonal adenomatous tumors that rapidly enlarge and prove fatal. Thus, there is a developmental switch in alveolar progenitor cells after birth, when mature AT2 cells function as facultative stem cells that contribute to local alveolar renewal, repair, and cancer. We propose that short-range signals from dying AT1 cells regulate AT2 stem cell activity: a signal transduced by EGFR-KRAS controls AT2 self-renewal and is hijacked during oncogenic transformation, and a separate signal controls reprogramming to AT1 cell fate. To compare expression between ATII and E18 BP populations, RNA was isolated from either population purified by FACS. Two populations are analyzed with 3 biological replicates per population.

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Glucocorticoid Regulates Mesenchymal Cell Differentiation Required for Perinatal Lung Morphogenesis and Function

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