Abstract
Background: Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) may have a significant role in airway remodeling in asthma, because it is a powerful inductor of many airway fibroblast activities such as collagen synthesis. Objective: To determine whether PDGF is a significant contributor to airway remodeling in patients with asthma by enhancing airway fibroblast procollagen I expression. Methods: Six normal controls without asthma, 10 subjects with mild to moderate asthma, and 5 subjects with severe asthma underwent bronchoscopy with endobronchial biopsy. Biopsies were placed in Dulbecco modified Eagle medium and fibroblasts cultured in the presence and absence of PDGF isoforms -AA, -BB, and -AB (1, 5, 10, 100 ng/mL) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (100 ng/mL). Fibroblast procollagen I and PDGF receptors (PDGFRs) α and β expression were determined by ELISA. Results: Platelet-derived growth factor BB significantly enhanced fibroblast procollagen I expression in patients with severe asthma compared with patients with mild/moderate asthma and normal controls. Furthermore, the baseline fibroblast expression of PDGFR-β was significantly greater in patients with severe asthma compared with the other groups. Conclusion: This pilot study suggests that airway fibroblasts from patients with severe asthma exhibit a synthetic phenotype, which may be driven by the overexpression of PDGFR-β.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 534-540 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology |
Volume | 115 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2005 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Airway fibroblasts
- Asthma
- PDGF
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Immunology