title: Pathological alteration of FoxO3a activity promotes idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis fibroblast proliferation on type i collagen matrix.
abstract: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a prevalent, progressive, and incurable fibroproliferative lung disease. The phenotype of IPF fibroblasts is characterized by their ability to elude the proliferation-suppressive properties of polymerized type I collagen. The mechanism underlying this pathological response is incompletely understood but involves aberrant activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt signaling pathway owing to inappropriately low phosphatase and tensin homolog phosphatase activity. Akt can phosphorylate and inactivate the forkhead box O3a (FoxO3a) transcriptional factor, which, when transcriptionally active, increases the expression of the CDK inhibitor p27 and promotes cell cycle arrest. Herein, we demonstrate that IPF fibroblasts display high levels of inactive FoxO3a compared with nonfibrotic control fibroblasts because of their high Akt activity. We found that p27 levels are decreased in IPF compared with control fibroblasts cultured on polymerized collagen. Furthermore, overexpression of FoxO3a in IPF fibroblasts increases p27 levels and suppresses the ability of IPF fibroblasts to proliferate on polymerized collagen. In contrast, the expression of dominant-negative FoxO3a augmented control fibroblast proliferation. IHC examination of fibroblastic foci in IPF lung tissue demonstrates the presence of inactive FoxO3a in cells within fibroblastic foci. These data indicate that the ability of IPF fibroblasts to circumvent the proliferation-suppressive properties of polymerized collagen involves inactivation of FoxO3a by high Akt activity, resulting in down-regulation of p27.
authors: Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. nhoxx002@umn.edu
authors: Richard Seonghun
authors: RS
authors: Nho
authors: Polla
authors: P
authors: Hergert
authors: Judith
authors: J
authors: Kahm
authors: Jose
authors: J
authors: Jessurun
authors: Craig
authors: C
authors: Henke
mesh_terms: D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D024042:Collagen Type I / Q000378:metabolism*; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27 / Q000378:metabolism; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000473:pathology*; D000071316:Forkhead Box Protein O3; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D054990:Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000473:pathology*; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D024042:Collagen Type I; C499517:FOXO3 protein, human; D000071316:Forkhead Box Protein O3; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase; C494929:PTEN protein, human