The Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society 3:377-382 (2006)
© 2006 The American Thoracic Society
Epithelial Origin of Myofibroblasts during Fibrosis in the Lung
Brigham C. Willis,
Roland M. duBois and
Zea Borok
Division of Pulmonary and Vascular Biology, and Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, Texas; Interstitial Lung Disease Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, United Kingdom; and Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Will Rogers Institute Pulmonary Research Center, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Zea Borok, M.D., Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Southern California, IRD 620, 2020 Zonal Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90033. E-mail: zborok{at}usc.edu
ABSTRACT
An understanding of the mechanisms underlying pulmonary fibrosis remains elusive. Once believed to result primarily from chronic inflammation, it is now clear that inflammation and chronic fibrosis, especially in diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis/usual interstitial pneumonia, are often dissociated, and that inflammation is neither necessary nor sufficient to induce fibrosis. The origin of the primary effector cell of fibrosis in the lung, the myofibroblast, is not clearly established. Three potential sources have been hypothesized. Although conversion of resident fibroblasts and differentiation of circulating bone marrowderived progenitors likely play a role, the possible contribution of alveolar epithelial cells (AECs), through a process termed "epithelialmesenchymal transition" (EMT), has only recently received consideration. A process by which epithelial cells lose cellcell attachment, polarity and epithelial-specific markers, undergo cytoskeletal remodeling, and gain a mesenchymal phenotype, EMT plays a prominent role in fibrogenesis in adult tissues such as the kidney. This review summarizes the evidence supporting a central role for EMT in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis, the potential for EMT in AECs in vitro and in vivo and role of transforming growth factor-ß1 in this process, and the implications of epithelium-driven fibrosis on future research and treatment. Potential pathways involved in EMT are also discussed. It is hoped that a major shift in current paradigms regarding the genesis of pulmonary fibrosis and dissection of the relevant pathways may allow development of targeted interventions that could potentially reverse the process and ameliorate the debilitating effects of abnormal repair and progressive fibrosis.
Key Words: alveolar epithelium epithelialmesenchymal transition lung injury transforming growth factor-ß
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Copyright © 2006 by the American Thoracic Society.
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