Modeling pulmonary fibrosis: Impacts of glutaredoxin on differentiation in tracheosphere development
Date of Completion
2021
Document Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
Larner College of Medicine Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Thesis Type
Honors College, College of Arts and Science Honors
First Advisor
Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Bryan Ballif, Ph.D.
Keywords
IPF, glutaredoxin, differentiation, organoid
Abstract
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a deadly disease whose pathology involves improperly differentiated airway epithelia present in alveolar regions. Previous work from our group has shown decreased activity of the enzyme glutaredoxin (GLRX) in the lungs of IPF patients, and demonstrated reversal of lung fibrosis in mice via administration of exogenous GLRX protein. We modeled airway epithelial tissue using 3D cell culture of wild type and GLRX -/- airway epithelial basal cells, both in monoculture and in coculture with fibroblasts. We present data from qPCR and immunohistochemistry which suggest that GLRX is essential for the proper differentiation of airway epithelia in the presence of fibroblasts. These findings suggest a role for GLRX in the attenuation of fibrosis via the support of healthy epithelial differentiation.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
D'Amico, Alexander Robillard, "Modeling pulmonary fibrosis: Impacts of glutaredoxin on differentiation in tracheosphere development" (2021). UVM Honors College Senior Theses. 456.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/456