title: Integrin beta4 was downregulated on the airway epithelia of asthma patients.
abstract: The shedding of airway epithelial cells and loss of epithelial functional homeostasis are major pathological characteristics of asthma; however, the mechanism underlying these pathologies remains obscure. Our previous work showed that there were three variation sites in 5' flanking region of integrin beta4 in asthma patients, which was correlated with decreased expression of integrin beta4 in peripheral leukocytes. Integrin beta4 is an important structural adhesion molecule on airway epithelia to keep the structural adhesion of epithelial cells. In this work, we further demonstrated that integrin beta4 expression was downregulated in airway epithelia of asthma patients. To probe the relationship between imbalanced expression of integrin beta4 and dysfunction of the airway epithelial cells in asthma, integrin beta4 was silenced in human bronchial epithelium cells (16HBE14O) by integrin beta4 small-interfering RNA lentivirus vector. Upon silencing of integrin beta4, 16HBE14O cells showed reduced proliferation and wound repair. Most cells were shown to be arrested in G1 phase after integrin beta4 silencing, and increased apoptosis was induced in the integrin beta4-silenced cells. In summary, our results provided compelling evidence that integrin beta4 was involved in the structural integrity and functional homeostasis of airway epithelial cells. It is likely that downregulation of integrin beta4 on asthma airway epithelia contributes to the structural disruption and dysfunction of airway epithelial cells.
authors: Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Chi
authors: C
authors: Liu
authors: Yang
authors: Y
authors: Xiang
authors: Huijun
authors: H
authors: Liu
authors: Yun
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: Yurong
authors: Y
authors: Tan
authors: Xiaolin
authors: X
authors: Zhu
authors: Dan
authors: D
authors: Zeng
authors: Menglan
authors: M
authors: Li
authors: Liwen
authors: L
authors: Zhang
authors: Xiaoqun
authors: X
authors: Qin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis; D001249:Asthma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D015536:Down-Regulation; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004848:Epithelium; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D039663:Integrin beta4 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D034622:RNA Interference; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D039663:Integrin beta4