Piezo2 is a novel and potentially important target in pulmonary fibrosis. (IMAGE)
Caption
Piezo2 is increased in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Immunohistochemistry of nonfibrotic (left) and IPF (right) lung tissue demonstrating that Piezo2 (brown staining) is strongly present in areas of fibrosis. Bottom: Blockade of Piezo2 expression reduces fibrotic programming of lung fibroblasts. Human lung fibroblasts grown on a stiff substrate auto-activate and differentiate to a type of fibrosis-promoting cell called a myofibroblast (left panel, indicated by red fluorescence staining for the differentiation marker alpha-smooth muscle actin). Reduction of Piezo2 expression using RNA silencing techniques reduces fibroblast activation by stiff substrate (right panel). The blue stain shows comparable numbers of cell nuclei in each condition.
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Sime et al. / The American Journal of Pathology
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