Search

Abstract Background Serum Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6), which is classified as human mucin-1 (MUC1), is used as a marker of sarcoidosis and other interstitial lung diseases. However, there remain some limitations due to a lack of information on the factors contributing to increased levels of serum KL-6. This study was designed to investigate the factors contributing to increased levels of serum KL-6 by molecular analysis. Methods Western blot analysis using anti-KL-6 antibody was performed simultaneously on the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and serum obtained from 128 subjects with sarcoidosis. Results KL-6/MUC1 in BALF showed three bands and five band patterns. These band patterns were associated with the MUC1 genotype and the KL-6 levels. KL-6/MUC1 band patterns in serum were dependent on molecular size class in BALF. Significantly increased levels of serum KL-6, serum/BALF KL-6 ratio and serum soluble interleukin 2 receptor were observed in the subjects with influx of high molecular size KL-6/MUC1 from the alveoli to blood circulation. The multivariate linear regression analysis involving potentially relevant variables such as age, gender, smoking status, lung parenchymal involvement based on radiographical stage and molecular size of KL-6/MUC1 in serum showed that the molecular size of KL-6/MUC1 in serum was significant independent determinant of serum KL-6 levels. Conclusions The molecular structural variants of KL-6/MUC1 and its leakage behavior affect serum levels of KL-6 in sarcoidosis. This information may assist in the interpretation of serum KL-6 levels in sarcoidosis.

Muscle dysfunction often occurs in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and affects ventilatory and non-ventilatory skeletal muscles. We have previously reported that hypercapnia (elevated CO2 levels) causes muscle atrophy through the activation of the AMPKα2-FoxO3a-MuRF1 pathway. In the present study, we investigated the effect of normoxic hypercapnia on skeletal muscle regeneration. We found that mouse C2C12 myoblasts exposed to elevated CO2 levels had decreased fusion index compared to myoblasts exposed to normal CO2. Metabolic analyses of C2C12 myoblasts exposed to high CO2 showed increased oxidative phosphorylation due to increased fatty acid oxidation. We utilized the cardiotoxin-induced muscle injury model in mice exposed to normoxia and 10% CO2 for 21 days and observed that muscle regeneration was delayed. High CO2-delayed differentiation in both mouse C2C12 myoblasts and skeletal muscle after injury and was restored to control levels when cells or mice were treated with a carnitine palmitoyltransfearse-1 (CPT1) inhibitor. Taken together, our data suggest that hypercapnia leads to changes in the metabolic activity of skeletal muscle cells, which results in impaired muscle regeneration and recovery after injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skeletal muscle dysfunction in survivors of pneumonia disproportionately affects older individuals in whom it causes substantial morbidity. We found that skeletal muscle recovery was impaired in old compared with young mice after influenza A virus‐induced pneumonia. In young mice, recovery of muscle loss was associated with expansion of tissue‐resident skeletal muscle macrophages and downregulation of MHC II expression, followed by a proliferation of muscle satellite cells. These findings were absent in old mice and in mice deficient in Cx3cr1. Transcriptomic profiling of tissue‐resident skeletal muscle macrophages from old compared with young mice showed downregulation of pathways associated with phagocytosis and proteostasis, and persistent upregulation of inflammatory pathways. Consistently, skeletal muscle macrophages from old mice failed to downregulate MHCII expression during recovery from influenza A virus‐induced pneumonia and showed impaired phagocytic function in vitro. Like old animals, mice deficient in the phagocytic receptor Mertk showed no macrophage expansion, MHCII downregulation, or satellite cell proliferation and failed to recover skeletal muscle function after influenza A pneumonia. Our data suggest that a loss of phagocytic function in a CX3CR1+ tissue‐resident skeletal muscle macrophage population in old mice precludes satellite cell proliferation and recovery of skeletal muscle function after influenza A pneumonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac glycosides (CGs) are used primarily for cardiac failure and have been reported to have other effects, including inhibition of viral replication. Here we set out to study mechanisms by which CGs as inhibitors of the Na-K-ATPase decrease influenza A virus (IAV) replication in the lungs. We found that CGs inhibit influenza virus replication in alveolar epithelial cells by decreasing intracellular potassium, which in turn inhibits protein translation, independently of viral entry, mRNA transcription, and protein degradation. These effects were independent of the Src signaling pathway and intracellular calcium concentration changes. We found that short-term treatment with ouabain prevented IAV replication without cytotoxicity. Rodents express a Na-K-ATPase-α1 resistant to CGs. Thus we utilized Na-K-ATPase-α1-sensitive mice, infected them with high doses of influenza virus, and observed a modest survival benefit when treated with ouabain. In summary, we provide evidence that the inhibition of the Na-K-ATPase by CGs decreases influenza A viral replication by modulating the cell protein translational machinery and results in a modest survival benefit in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is sensed by cells and can trigger signals to modify gene expression in different tissues leading to changes in organismal functions. Despite accumulating evidence that several pathways in various organisms are responsive to CO2 elevation (hypercapnia), it has yet to be elucidated how hypercapnia activates genes and signaling pathways, or whether they interact, are integrated, or are conserved across species. Here, we performed a large-scale transcriptomic study to explore the interaction/integration/conservation of hypercapnia-induced genomic responses in mammals (mice and humans) as well as invertebrates (Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster). We found that hypercapnia activated genes that regulate Wnt signaling in mouse lungs and skeletal muscles in vivo and in several cell lines of different tissue origin. Hypercapnia-responsive Wnt pathway homologues were similarly observed in secondary analysis of available transcriptomic datasets of hypercapnia in a human bronchial cell line, flies and nematodes. Our data suggest the evolutionarily conserved role of high CO2 in regulating Wnt pathway genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muscle dysfunction often occurs in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and affects ventilatory and non-ventilatory skeletal muscles. We have previously reported that hypercapnia (elevated CO 2 levels) causes muscle atrophy through the activation of the AMPKα2-FoxO3a-MuRF1 pathway. In the present study, we investigated the effect of normoxic hypercapnia on skeletal muscle regeneration. We found that mouse C2C12 myoblasts exposed to elevated CO 2 levels had decreased fusion index compared to myoblasts exposed to normal CO 2 . Metabolic analyses of C2C12 myoblasts exposed to high CO 2 showed increased oxidative phosphorylation due to increased fatty acid oxidation. We utilized the cardiotoxin-induced muscle injury model in mice exposed to normoxia and 10% CO 2 for 21 days and observed that muscle regeneration was delayed. High CO 2 -delayed differentiation in both mouse C2C12 myoblasts and skeletal muscle after injury and was restored to control levels when cells or mice were treated with a carnitine palmitoyltransfearse-1 (CPT1) inhibitor. Taken together, our data suggest that hypercapnia leads to changes in the metabolic activity of skeletal muscle cells, which results in impaired muscle regeneration and recovery after injury., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Ceco, Celli, Weinberg, Shigemura, Welch, Volpe, Chandel, Bharat, Lecuona and Sznajder.)