title: Hyaluronidase recruits mesenchymal-like cells to the lung and ameliorates fibrosis.
abstract: Hyaluronidases (HYALs) comprise a group of enzymes that degrade hyaluronic acid (HA). In this report, we reveal that a single intranasal inoculation of HYAL induces an increase in mononuclear cells within the bronchoalveolar space demonstrating a mesenchymal-like phenotype, expressing stem cell antigen-1 (SCA-1), CD44 and CD73 but not CD34, CD45, CD3, CD4, CD8 or CD19. This influx of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-like cells was dependent on leukotriene production within the lung parenchyma. These findings prompted experiments demonstrating that HYAL treatment potently blocked bleomycin-induced lung injury and fibrosis while decreasing transforming growth factor (TGF)-β production and collagen deposition. These data suggest that HYAL is a novel and promising tool to use autologous MSC-like cells in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Toxicológicas e Bromatológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14040-903, Brazil. faccioli@fcfrp.usp.br.
authors.forename: Claudia S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Bitencourt
authors.forename: Priscilla At
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Simone G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.forename: Suely V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Sampaio
authors.forename: Eliane C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Arantes
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Aronoff
authors.forename: Lúcia H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Faccioli