title: Fibrotic lung fibroblasts show blunted inhibition by cAMP due to deficient cAMP response element-binding protein phosphorylation.
abstract: Pulmonary fibroblasts regulate extracellular matrix production and degradation; thus, they are critical for maintenance of lung structure, function, and repair. In pulmonary fibrosis, fibroblasts produce excess collagen and form fibrotic foci that eventually impair lung function, but the mechanisms responsible for these alterations are not known. Receptors coupled to the stimulation of cAMP production can inhibit activation of fibroblasts and thereby are antifibrotic. To test whether this signaling pathway is altered in pulmonary fibrosis, we compared the ability of normal adult human pulmonary fibroblasts to generate and respond to cAMP with that of cells isolated from lungs with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Serum- and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-stimulated cell proliferation was inhibited approximately 50% by forskolin and approximately 100% by prostaglandin (PG) E(2) in the normal cells but substantially less in the diseased cells. Collagen synthesis was also inhibited >50% by the same drugs in the normal cells but significantly less so in the diseased cells, despite responding with similar increases in cAMP production. Although expression of protein kinase A (PKA) and cAMP-stimulated PKA activity were similar in both the normal and diseased cell types, forskolin- and PGE(2)-stimulated cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation was decreased in the diseased cell lines compared with the normal cells. cAMP-mediated activation and TGF-beta-mediated inhibition of CREB DNA binding was also diminished in the diseased cells. Thus, pulmonary fibroblasts derived from patients with pulmonary fibrosis are refractory to the inhibition by cAMP due to altered activity of components distal to the activity of PKA, in particular the phosphorylation of CREB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, 38163, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoqiu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shu Qiang
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Rennolds S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Ostrom
mesh_terms: D015153:Blotting, Western; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D005576:Colforsin / Q000494:pharmacology; D003094:Collagen / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D015232:Dinoprostone / Q000494:pharmacology; D024202:Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000473:pathology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051785:Smad Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein; D051785:Smad Proteins; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D005576:Colforsin; D003094:Collagen; D004247:DNA; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; D015232:Dinoprostone