Abstract
Telomere shortening is associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a high-morbidity and high-mortality lung disease of unknown etiology. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. In this study, wild-type (WT) mice with normal telomeres and generation 3 (G3) or G2 telomerase RNA component (TERC) knockout Terc−/− mice with short telomeres were treated with and without lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or bleomycin by intratracheal injection. We show that under LPS induction, G3 Terc−/− mice develop aggravated pulmonary fibrosis as indicated by significantly increased α-SMA, collagen I and hydroxyproline content. Interestingly, TGF-β/Smads signaling is markedly activated in the lungs of G3 Terc−/− mice, as indicated by markedly elevated levels of phosphorylated Smad3 and TGF-β1, compared with those of WT mice. This TGF-β/Smads signaling activation is significantly increased in the lungs of LPS-treated G3 Terc−/− mice compared with those of LPS-treated WT or untreated G3 Terc−/− mice. A similar pattern of TGF-β/Smads signaling activation and the enhancing role of telomere shortening in pulmonary fibrosis are also confirmed in bleomycin-induced model. Moreover, LPS challenge produced more present cellular senescence, apoptosis and infiltration of innate immune cells, including macrophages and neutrophils in the lungs of G3 Terc−/− mice, compared with WT mice. To our knowledge, this is the first time to report telomere shortening activated TGF-β/Smads signaling in lungs. Our data suggest that telomere shortening cooperated with environment-induced lung injury accelerates the development of pulmonary fibrosis, and telomere shortening confers an inherent enhancing factor to the genesis of IPF through activation of TGF-β/Smads signaling.
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Acknowledgements
This work is funded by Hangzhou Normal University Grant PF14002004007 and of Zhejiang Province Natural Science Foundation Grant LY16C070003 to K. Zhang.
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Yi.L., Y.S., and Ya.L. performed experiments; Yi.L. and Y.S. prepared figures; K.Z., Yi.L., Y.S. and X.P. analyzed the data; K.Z. and Yi.L. drafted the manuscript; K.Z., Yi.L. and X.P. edited and revised the manuscript; K.Z. approved the final version of the manuscript; and K.Z., Yi.L., and Y.S. were responsible for the conception and design of the research.
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Liu, Yy., Shi, Y., Liu, Y. et al. Telomere shortening activates TGF-β/Smads signaling in lungs and enhances both lipopolysaccharide and bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Acta Pharmacol Sin 39, 1735–1745 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41401-018-0007-9
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