Our data indicates the existence of a relationship between abundance of circulating miRNAs and immunologica
Fibrosis selleck chem Y-27632 characterizes many chronic diseases that result in end-stage organ failure, causing major morbidity and mortality. Fibrosis in many of these diseases appears to result from aberrant or overexuberant wound-healing responses to injury (1), producing excessive deposition of extracellular matrix. Expansion of the matrix-producing fibroblast pool is a critical component of profibrotic injury responses (2), but the molecular mediators driving this expansion in vivo have not yet been fully identified. Better identification of these mediators will hopefully identify new therapeutic targets for fibrotic diseases, most of which are refractory to currently available therapies.
Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a bioactive lipid that mediates diverse cellular responses through interactions with specific G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), of which at least 5 have been definitively identified and designated LPA1�C5 (3). We and others have recently demonstrated that LPA signaling specifically through LPA1 is required for the development of fibrosis in several organs (4�C6), but the mechanisms through which LPA-LPA1 signaling contributes to fibrosis remain to be fully elucidated. Among its profibrotic activities, LPA-LPA1 signaling contributes to fibroblast accumulation in pulmonary fibrosis by driving fibroblast migration to sites of lung injury (4).
Although fibroblast migration into the wound matrix is a central step in tissue responses to injury (7), recent evidence suggests that the proliferation of resident fibroblasts within injured tissues is central to the accumulation of these cells (8). We now demonstrate that fibroblast proliferation in vivo is dependent on LPA-LPA1 signaling, in a mouse model of fibrosis not previously shown to require LPA1, chlorhexidine gluconate (CG)-induced peritoneal fibrosis (9). Genetic deletion or pharmacological antagonism of LPA1 significantly attenuated fibroblast proliferation, as well as the development of fibrosis, in this model. LPA itself can induce fibroblast proliferation, but this direct effect of LPA in vitro can be mediated by LPA1 or LPA2 (10). We therefore hypothesized that the specific requirement for LPA1 that we observed for fibroblast proliferation in vivo was attributable to LPA signaling specifically through LPA1 being required for the expression of fibroblast mitogens after tissue injury other than LPA.
Many of the activities Brefeldin_A induced by LPA, such as cell migration and shape change, result, at least in part, from its potent ability to regulate the actin cytoskeleton through activation of the RhoA-Rho-associated coiled-coil-forming kinase (ROCK) cascade, converting globular actin (G-actin) monomers to filamentous actin (F-actin) polymers (11).