• Hanako Fujita, Noriho Sakamoto, Yuji Ishimatsu, Tomoyuki Kakugawa, Shintaro Hara, Atsuko Hara, Misato Amenomori, Hiroshi Ishimoto, Towako Nagata, Hiroshi Mukae, and Shigeru Kohno.
• Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan.
• Respiration. 2011 Jan 1; 81 (5): 420-30.

BackgroundIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterized by progressive fibrosis and a poor prognosis. Alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) are considered to play important roles by releasing growth factors and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and by being involved in epithelial mesenchymal transition in IPF. Doxycycline hydrochloride (DOXY), an inhibitor of MMPs, attenuates pulmonary fibrosis in models and in patients with IPF; however, the mechanism of this action remains obscure.ObjectivesThe present study investigated the effect of DOXY on growth factors and MMP production in AECs.MethodsBleomycin (BL)-induced murine pulmonary fibrosis was treated with DOXY and examined by pathological and immunohistochemical staining. The human alveolar epithelial cell line A549 was stimulated with transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and incubated with DOXY, and then the expression of growth factors, MMPs, and collagen type I was evaluated at the mRNA and protein levels. We also evaluated the effects of DOXY on the TGF-β1-induced Smad signaling pathway.ResultsDOXY reduced fibrosis scores and the production of collagen type I, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), and TGF-β1 in BL models. DOXY inhibited the mRNA expression of MMP-2, MPP-9, CTGF, and collagen type I as well as the production of MMP-2 and platelet-derived growth factor-AA protein induced in A549 cells by TGF-β1 but not by Smad2 and Smad3 phosphorylation. We did not find a similar effect of DOXY in normal lung fibroblasts.ConclusionsOur results suggest that DOXY could be useful for attenuating pulmonary fibrosis through the inhibition of growth factors and MMP production in AECs.Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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