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The urgent need for effective treatments for acute and chronic lung diseases underscores the significance of developing innovative preclinical human research tools. The 2023 American Thoracic Society Workshop on Precision-Cut Lung Slices (PCLSs) brought together 35 experts to discuss and address the role of human tissue–derived PCLSs as a unique tool for target and drug discovery and validation in pulmonary medicine. With increasing interest and usage, together with advancements in methods and technology, there is a growing need for consensus on PCLS methodology and readouts. The current document recommends standard reporting criteria and emphasizes the requirement for careful collection and integration of clinical metadata. We further discuss current clinically relevant readouts that can be applied to PCLSs and highlight recent developments and future steps for implementing novel technologies for PCLS modeling and analysis. The collection and correlation of clinical metadata and multiomic analysis will further advance the integration of this preclinical platform into patient endotyping and the development of tailored therapies for patients with lung disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a complex structure that separates the central nervous system (CNS) from the peripheral blood circulation. Effective communication between different cell types within the BBB is crucial for its proper functioning and maintenance of homeostasis. In this study, we demonstrate that meningitic Escherichia coli (E. coli)-induced WNT5B plays a role in facilitating intercellular communication between astrocytes and brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs). We discovered that astrocytes-derived WNT5B activates the non-canonical WNT signaling pathway JNK/c-JUN in BMECs through its receptor ROR1, leading to inhibition of ZO-1 expression and impairment of the tight junction integrity in BMECs. Notably, our findings reveal that c-JUN, a transcription factor, directly regulates ZO-1 expression. By employing a dual luciferase reporting system and chromatin immunoprecipitation techniques, we identified specific binding sites of c-JUN on the ZO-1 promoter region. Overall, our study highlights the involvement of WNT5B in mediating intercellular communication between astrocytes and BMECs, provides insights into the role of WNT5B in meningitic E. coli-induced disruption of BBB integrity, and suggests potential therapeutic targeting of WNT5B as a strategy to address BBB dysfunction., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethical Approval: This study was conducted in accordance with the “Guidelines for the Breeding and Use of Laboratory Animals by the National Institutes of Health of China.” All experimental procedures and operating techniques were approved by the Animal Experiment Protection and Supervision Management Committee of Huazhong Agricultural University (approval no. SCXK2020-0019, animal welfare guarantee no. 202306010003). Consent for Publication: Not applicable. Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)