Open AccessAbrogation of TGF-β1-induced fibroblast-myofibroblast differentiation by histone deacetylase inhibition
Author(s) -
Weibo Guo,
Bin Shan,
Ross C. Klingsberg,
Xiangmei Qin,
Joseph A. Lasky
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
american journal of physiology. lung cellular and molecular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.892
H-Index - 163
eISSN - 1522-1504
pISSN - 1040-0605
DOI - 10.1152/ajplung.00128.2009
Subject(s) - myofibroblast , trichostatin a , cancer research , protein kinase b , phosphorylation , chemistry , hdac4 , histone deacetylase , microbiology and biotechnology , transforming growth factor , histone deacetylase inhibitor , biology , fibrosis , histone , medicine , biochemistry , gene
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating disease with no known effective pharmacological therapy. The fibroblastic foci of IPF contain activated myofibroblasts that are the major synthesizers of type I collagen. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 promotes differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts in vitro and in vivo. In the current study, we investigated the molecular link between TGF-beta1-mediated myofibroblast differentiation and histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity. Treatment of normal human lung fibroblasts (NHLFs) with the pan-HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) inhibited TGF-beta1-mediated alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and alpha1 type I collagen mRNA induction. TSA also blocked the TGF-beta1-driven contractile response in NHLFs. The inhibition of alpha-SMA expression by TSA was associated with reduced phosphorylation of Akt, and a pharmacological inhibitor of Akt blocked TGF-beta1-mediated alpha-SMA induction in a dose-dependent manner. HDAC4 knockdown was effective in inhibiting TGF-beta1-stimulated alpha-SMA expression as well as the phosphorylation of Akt. Moreover, the inhibitors of protein phosphatase 2A and 1 (PP2A and PP1) rescued the TGF-beta1-mediated alpha-SMA induction from the inhibitory effect of TSA. Together, these data demonstrate that the differentiation of NHLFs to myofibroblasts is HDAC4 dependent and requires phosphorylation of Akt.