Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, fatal disease, thought to be largely transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) driven, for which there is no effective therapy. We assessed the potential benefits in IPF of nitrated fatty acids (NFAs), which are unique endogenous agonists of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), a nuclear hormone receptor that exhibits wound-healing and antifibrotic properties potentially useful for IPF therapy. We found that pulmonary PPARγ is down-regulated in patients with IPF. In vitro, knockdown or knockout of PPARγ expression in isolated human and mouse lung fibroblasts induced a profibrotic phenotype, whereas treating human fibroblasts with NFAs up-regulated PPARγ and blocked TGFβ signaling and actions. NFAs also converted TGFβ to inactive monomers in cell-free solution, suggesting an additional mechanism through which they may inhibit TGFβ. In vivo, treating mice bearing experimental pulmonary fibrosis with NFAs reduced disease severity. Also, NFAs up-regulated the collagen-targeting factor milk fat globule-EGF factor 8 (MFG-E8), stimulated collagen uptake and degradation by alveolar macrophages, and promoted myofibroblast dedifferentiation. Moreover, treating mice with established pulmonary fibrosis using NFAs reversed their existing myofibroblast differentiation and collagen deposition. These findings raise the prospect of treating IPF with NFAs to halt and perhaps even reverse the progress of IPF.

Background:The mechanistic role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ␥ (PPAR␥) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is poorly understood. Results: COPD and cigarette smoke exposure down-regulated PPAR␥ and produced inflammation that PPAR␥ agonists reversed through multiple pathways. Conclusion: PPAR␥ plays a pivotal role in COPD. Significance: PPAR␥ agonists may be the first effective treatment for COPD.

Asthma affects approximately 300 million people worldwide, significantly impacting quality of life and healthcare costs. While current therapies are effective in controlling many patients’ symptoms, a large number continue to experience exacerbations or treatment-related adverse effects. Alternative therapies are thus urgently needed. Accumulating evidence has shown that the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) family of nuclear hormone receptors, comprising PPARα, PPARβ/δ, and PPARγ, is involved in asthma pathogenesis and that ligand-induced activation of these receptors suppresses asthma pathology. PPAR agonists exert their anti-inflammatory effects primarily by suppressing pro-inflammatory mediators and antagonizing the pro-inflammatory functions of various cell types relevant to asthma pathophysiology. Experimental findings strongly support the potential clinical benefits of PPAR agonists in the treatment of asthma. We review current literature, highlighting PPARs’ key role in asthma pathogenesis and their agonists’ therapeutic potential. With additional research and rigorous clinical studies, PPARs may become attractive therapeutic targets in this disease.

Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways that has long been viewed predominately as an inflammatory condition. Accordingly, current therapeutic interventions focus primarily on resolving inflammation. However, the mainstay of asthma therapy neither fully improves lung function nor prevents disease exacerbations, suggesting involvement of other factors. An emerging concept now holds that airway remodeling, another major pathological feature of asthma, is as important as inflammation in asthma pathogenesis. Structural changes associated with asthma include disrupted epithelial integrity, subepithelial fibrosis, goblet cell hyperplasia/metaplasia, smooth muscle hypertrophy/hyperplasia, and enhanced vascularity. These alterations are hypothesized to contribute to airway hyperresponsiveness, airway obstruction, airflow limitation, and progressive decline of lung function in asthmatic individuals. Consequently, targeting inflammation alone does not suffice to provide optimal clinical benefits. Here we review asthmatic airway remodeling, focusing on airway epithelium, which is critical to maintaining a healthy respiratory system, and is the primary defense against inhaled irritants. In asthma, airway epithelium is both a mediator and target of inflammation, manifesting remodeling and resulting obstruction among its downstream effects. We also highlight the potential benefits of therapeutically targeting airway structural alterations. Since pathological tissue remodeling is likewise observed in other injury- and inflammation-prone tissues and organs, our discussion may have implications beyond asthma and lung disease.

Lung cancer is the most common and most fatal of all malignancies worldwide. Furthermore, with more than half of all lung cancer patients presenting with distant metastases at the time of initial diagnosis, the overall prognosis for the disease is poor. There is thus a desperate need for new prevention and treatment strategies. Recently, a family of nuclear hormone receptors, the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), has attracted significant attention for its role in various malignancies including lung cancer. Three PPARs, PPARα, PPARβ/δ, and PPARγ, display distinct biological activities and varied influences on lung cancer biology. PPARα activation generally inhibits tumorigenesis through its antiangiogenic and anti-inflammatory effects. Activated PPARγ is also antitumorigenic and antimetastatic, regulating several functions of cancer cells and controlling the tumor microenvironment. Unlike PPARα and PPARγ, whether PPARβ/δ activation is anti- or protumorigenic or even inconsequential currently remains an open question that requires additional investigation. This review of current literature emphasizes the multifaceted effects of PPAR agonists in lung cancer and discusses how they may be applied as novel therapeutic strategies for the disease.

Asthma is a serious, growing problem worldwide. Inhaled steroids, the current standard therapy, are not always effective in this chronic inflammatory disease and can cause adverse effects. We tested the hypothesis that nitrated fatty acids (NFAs) may provide an effective alternative treatment. NFAs are endogenously produced by nonenzymatic reaction of NO with unsaturated fatty acids and exert anti-inflammatory actions both by activating the nuclear hormone receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ and via PPAR-independent mechanisms, but whether they might ameliorate allergic airway disease was previously untested. We found that pulmonary delivery of the NFA 10-nitro-oleic acid (OA-NO2) reduced the severity of murine allergic airway disease, as assessed by various pathological and molecular markers. Fluticasone, an inhaled steroid commonly used to treat asthma, produced similar effects on most end points, but only OA-NO2 induced robust apoptosis of neutrophils and their phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages. This suggests that OA-NO2 may be particularly effective in neutrophil-rich, steroid-resistant severe asthma. In primary human bronchial epithelial cells, OA-NO2 blocked phosphorylation and degradation of IκB and enhanced inhibitory binding of PPARγ to NF-κB. Our results indicate that the NFA OA-NO2 is efficacious in preclinical models of allergic airway disease and may have potential for treating asthma patients.

Asthma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, affecting some 300 million people throughout the world. 1 More than 8% of the US population has asthma, with the prevalence increasing. 2 As with other diseases, animal models of allergic airway disease greatly facilitate understanding of the underlying pathophysiology, help identify potential therapeutic targets, and allow preclinical testing of possible new therapies. Models of allergic airway disease have been developed in several animal species, but murine models are particularly attractive due to the low cost, ready availability, and well-characterized immune systems of these animals. 3 Availability of a variety of transgenic strains further increases the attractiveness of these models. 4 Here we describe two murine models of allergic airway disease, both employing ovalbumin as the antigen. Following initial sensitization by intraperitoneal injection, one model delivers the antigen challenge by nebulization, the other by intratracheal delivery. These two models offer complementary advantages, with each mimicking the major features of human asthma. 5 The major features of acute asthma include an exaggerated airway response to stimuli such as methacholine (airway hyperresponsiveness; AHR) and eosinophil-rich airway inflammation. These are also prominent effects of allergen challenge in our murine models, 5,6 and we describe techniques for measuring them and thus evaluating the effects of experimental manipulation. Specifically, we describe both invasive 7 and non-invasive 8 techniques for measuring airway hyperresponsiveness as well as methods for assessing infiltration of inflammatory cells into the airways and the lung. Airway inflammatory cells are collected by bronchoalveolar lavage while lung histopathology is used to assess markers of inflammation throughout the organ. These techniques provide powerful tools for studying asthma in ways that would not be possible in humans. Video LinkThe video component of this article can be found at http://www.jove.com/video/3771/ Protocol I. Allergen Sensitization and Challenge (see Figure 1) A. For Intratracheal Challenge 1. For initial sensitization, inject male or female C57BL/6 or BALB/c mice (6-8 weeks old) intraperitoneally on day 0 and again on day 7 with 20 μg of ovalbumin (OVA; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) emulsified in 0.2 ml of sterile phosphate buffered saline (PBS) containing 2 mg of aluminum hydroxide (Sigma-Aldrich) or with 2 mg aluminum hydroxide in 0.2 ml of sterile PBS as control. 2. Challenge with antigen as appropriate (e.g., on days 14, 16, 18, and 20). Challenge procedure follows. 3. Anesthetize mouse with an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of a mixture of ketamine (90 mg/kg) and xylazine (10 mg/kg). Ensure the mouse is fully anesthetized for at least 10 min. 4. Angle operation surface at 45 degrees or greater. Place mouse on this surface keeping ventral side upward and head at top. 5. Hook thread under front incisors to hold head back. Level the paws with one another to ensure ...

Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) contributes to wound healing and, when dysregulated, to pathological fibrosis. TGF-β and the anti-fibrotic nuclear hormone receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) repress each other’s expression, and such PPARγ downregulation is prominent in fibrosis and mediated, via previously unknown SMAD-signaling mechanisms. Here we show that TGF-β induces association of SMAD3 with both SMAD4, needed for translocation of the complex into the nucleus, and the essential context-sensitive corepressors E2F4 and p107. The complex mediates TGF-β-induced repression by binding to regulatory elements in the target promoter. In the PPARG promoter, we found that the SMAD3-SMAD4 complex binds both to a previously unknown consensus TGF-β inhibitory element (TIE) and also to canonical SMAD-binding elements (SBEs). Furthermore, the TIE and SBEs independently mediated partial repression of PPARG transcription, the first demonstration of a TIE and SBEs functioning within the same promoter. Also, TGF-β-treated fibroblasts contained SMAD complexes that activated a SMAD target gene in addition to those repressing PPARG transcription, the first finding of such dual activity within the same cell. These findings describe in detail novel mechanisms by which TGF-β represses PPARG transcription, thereby facilitating its own pro-fibrotic activity.