Identification of early genes in the pathophysiology of fibrotic interstitial lung disease in a new model of pulmonary fibrosis.

Some interstitial lung diseases involve pulmonary fibrosis, which is a process that is characterized by the excessive and abnormal accumulation of extracellular matrix in the pulmonary interalveolar space. Although the current anti-fibrotic therapy aims at slowing down the progression of pulmonary fibrosis, it does not reverse it, and many of the drugs that were identified in basic-research studies failed in clinical phases, mainly because of the lack of a model that can recapitulate the pathophysiological mechanisms of human pulmonary fibrosis. We developed a novel experimental model of pulmonary fibrosis induced by a cocktail of molecules on an air/liquid interface culture of mouse embryonic lung explants. Histological analyses revealed a pattern of usual interstitial pneumonia, the worst-prognosis form of pulmonary fibrosis. We performed a transcriptomics analysis at the single-cell level after the induction of fibrosis and before any histological signs of fibrosis could be observed. The results revealed increased expression of several gene families that are involved in early inflammation, fibrosis and iron homeostasis, as well as potential new genetic targets.