Sestrin-2, a repressor of PDGFRβ signalling, promotes cigarette-smoke-induced pulmonary emphysema in mice and is upregulated in individuals with COPD

• Main Authors: Juliana Heidler (Author), Athanasios Fysikopoulos (Author), Frank Wempe (Author), Michael Seimetz (Author), Thorsten Bangsow (Author), Ana Tomasovic (Author), Florian Veit (Author), Susan Scheibe (Author), Alexandra Pichl (Author), Friederike Weisel (Author), K. C. Kent Lloyd (Author), Peter Jaksch (Author), Walter Klepetko (Author), Norbert Weissmann (Author), Harald von Melchner (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: The Company of Biologists, 2013-11-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

SUMMARY Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. COPD is caused by chronic exposure to cigarette smoke and/or other environmental pollutants that are believed to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) that gradually disrupt signalling pathways responsible for maintaining lung integrity. Here we identify the antioxidant protein sestrin-2 (SESN2) as a repressor of PDGFRβ signalling, and PDGFRβ signalling as an upstream regulator of alveolar maintenance programmes. In mice, the mutational inactivation of Sesn2 prevents the development of cigarette-smoke-induced pulmonary emphysema by upregulating PDGFRβ expression via a selective accumulation of intracellular superoxide anions (O2−). We also show that SESN2 is overexpressed and PDGFRβ downregulated in the emphysematous lungs of individuals with COPD and to a lesser extent in human lungs of habitual smokers without COPD, implicating a negative SESN2-PDGFRβ interrelationship in the pathogenesis of COPD. Taken together, our results imply that SESN2 could serve as both a biomarker and as a drug target in the clinical management of COPD.

Item Description

1754-8403
1754-8411
10.1242/dmm.013482