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Myofibroblast differentiation is governed by adhesion mechanics, and inhibition of the stress sensor Talin2 reverses lung fibrosis

WHITE, M. J. V.; Ozkan, M.; Medellin, J. E. G.; Hubbell, J.

2021-06-07 immunology
10.1101/2021.06.07.447403 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Fibrosis is involved in 45% of deaths in the United States, and no treatment exists to reverse progression of the disease. In order to find novel targets for fibrosis therapeutics, we developed a model for the differentiation of monocytes to myofibroblasts that allowed us to screen for proteins involved in myofibroblast differentiation. Inhibition of a novel protein target generated by our model, talin2, reduces myofibroblast morphology, -smooth muscle actin content, collagen I content, and lowers the pro-fibrotic secretome of myofibroblasts. We find that knockdown of talin2 de-differentiates myofibroblasts, talin2 knockdown reverses bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis in mice, and Tln2 -/-mice are resistant to unilateral ureteral obstruction-induced kidney fibrosis and are resistant to bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis. Talin2 inhibition is a potential treatment for reversing lung and kidney fibroses. One Sentence SummarySilencing the stress sensor Talin2 reverses myofibroblast differentiation and existing fibrosis.

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