Molecular mechanisms of alveolar epithelial healing process in acute lung injury

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

1. We have demonstrated that 1) keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) is a potent factor for proliferation and differentiation of alveolar type II cells, 2) intratracheal instillation of KGF prevented acute lung injury by bleomycin and HCl. 2. Ethyl pyruvate reportedly has anti-inflammatory actions through inhibition of NF-kB. We confirmed that treatment of cultured alveolar epithelial cells with tumor necrosis factor a (TNFa) increased the NF-kB/DNA-binding activity, which was strongly inhibited with incubating with ethyl pyruvate. We also demonstrated that ethyl pyruvate interacts with RelA and p50 to inhibit their functions at multiple points. 3. Legionella pneumophila has flagella, causes pulmonary fibrosis. Microarray analysis in cultured alveolar epithelial cells indicated that flagellin increased fibronectin level and reduced E-cadherin level, which suggested that flagellin cooperates with TGF-b and induces EMT in alveolar epithelial cells, and causes fibrosis.