Background
Many pulmonary pathologies including cystic fibrosis (CF), pulmonary fibrosis (PF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pulmonary hypertension (PH) follow a progressive course, and at their end stages are treatable only by transplantation [
1]. Taken together, features of chronic lung diseases commonly include excessive inflammation, tissue remodelling, and epithelial damage, which ultimately leads to a loss of function and organ failure [
2,
3].
The contribution of bone marrow-derived cell populations to adult tissue repair has been widely studied, and although controversial, evidence exists implicating various progenitor populations in both tissue remodelling, pathogenic fibrosis, and productive repair. Numerous investigators have described therapeutic benefits with exogenously applied marrow-derived populations [
4‐
6], however the endogenous role of such populations is uncertain [
7]. In the context of human chronic lung disease, we chose to investigate two bone marrow-derived populations to determine the numbers of these cells in various disease states.
We have previously described a novel epithelial-like progenitor population marked by Clara Cell Secretory Protein (CCSP) found within the bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) [
8]. In a model of naphthalene-induced lung injury in mice, a transient increase in bone marrow and peripheral blood CCSP
+ cells was measured following injury. In addition, when labelled CCSP
+ cells were delivered (trans-tracheally or intravenously), injured murine lungs were found to were found preferentially retain CCSP
+ as compared to CCSP
- cells. For these reasons, it was hypothesized that CCSP
+ epithelial-like progenitor cells may also be important in human lung disease.
In addition, circulating CD45
+Collagen-1
+ fibrocytes have also been implicated in the development of tissue fibrosis, in both animal models and human disease. Inhibition of this cell population though blockage of SDF-1/CXCR4-mediated migration has been shown to attenuate bleomycin-induced lung injury in mice [
9]. Quantification of circulating fibrocyte numbers has also been shown to be an independent predictor of survival in pulmonary fibrosis patients [
10], and we recently reported an increase in this population in patients with bronchiolitis obliterans [
11].
These two populations have not previously been compared across disease groups and taken together may play an important role in disease pathology. This study aimed to quantify both cell populations in the bone marrow and/or peripheral blood of end-stage lung disease patient at the time of transplantation. We hypothesise that a specific relationship may exist between the number and recruitment ability of specific bone marrow-derived cell populations and specific end-stage lung disease pathologies. Utilizing an observational study design we aimed to investigate these relationships across various end-stage lung diseases. Investigation of plasma cytokine mediators of cell mobilization or trafficking also aimed to elucidate key differences in these factors between disease groups and in relation to progenitor cell numbers.
Methods
The study was designed with a cross-sectional, observational approach and was approved by the University Health Network Research Ethics Board (#07-0598TE). Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. The study population consisted of lung transplant recipients at the Toronto General Hospital between Nov 2007 and Jan 2011. Lung donors were also included as a comparison group.
Sample preparation
Bone marrow (BM) was obtained from the exposed sternum and prepared by Ficoll. Equal parts heparinized peripheral blood (10 ml) were prepared by Ficoll isolation for peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), which was used for CCSP cell quantification, and by high-speed centrifugation for peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs), which was used for fibrocyte quantification. PBLs were treated with red cell lysis buffer. Plasma was collected from the centrifuged aliquot.
Flow cytometry
For CCSP+ cell quantification, freshly isolated BMCs and PBMCs were blocked with 10% goat serum and 10% Fc Block (Miltenyi Biotech), stained with rabbit anti-mouse/human CCSP (1:200; Upstate Labs) or IgG control antibody (R&D), followed by Alexa Fluor 488 secondary (1:1000; Invitrogen).
For fibrocyte quantification, freshly isolated PBLs we blocked as above, stained with mouse anti-human CD45 (1:5: PerCP-conjugated, BD Biosciences), permeabilizied using Cytoperm solution (BD Biosciences), and subsequently stained with rabbit-anti-human collagen type-1 (1:100; Rockland Immunochemicals) or IgG control antibody, followed by AlexaFluor 488 secondary (1:1000; Invitrogen). For double-staining experiments, CCSP antibody was detected with an AlexaFluor 647 secondary (Invitrogen) and the chemokine receptors detected with PE-conjugated antibodies (BD Biosciences), providing sufficient spectral emission separation.
All data was generated using a Coulter Cytomics FC500 analyzer, collecting 20,000 events per sample, and analyzed with FlowJo software. Sorting of isolated CCSP+ peripheral bloods cells for PCR was performed on a BD FACSAria II, starting with 60 ml of peripheral blood from a healthy, male volunteer.
Real-time PCR
Real-time quantitative PCR was performed by Taqman technology (Applied Biosystems). In brief, total RNA was isolated using the RNeasy Kit (Qiagen) and RNA concentrations were determined by Nanodrop analyzer (Thermo Scientific). First-strand cDNA was generated using Superscript III (Sigma) protocol. Real-time PCR was performed for amplification of the CCSP or Collagen-1 gene products (Taqman probes Hs00171092_m1 and Hs00164004_m1). Beta-2-Microglobulin was used as endogenous control (Applied Biosystems; 4333766 T). Human bronchus tissue (positive control) was collected from explanted recipient lungs, subject to collagenase digestion (Stem Cell Technologies), and prepared in parallel. Control RNA samples not subjected to reverse transcription (NRT) and water (no template, NTC) were used as negative controls.
In vitrotranswell migration assays
Migration of CCSP
+ cells was assessed in response to chemotactic stimuli in healthy subjects (median age = 29 yrs, M:F = 6:3) vs. transplant recipients (median age = 45.5, M:F = 9:7). Initially, 1 × 10
6 BMCs or PBMCs were layered onto a 5 μm-pore membrane insert and placed into contact with DMEM + 10% FBS + the cytokine Regulated upon Activation, Normal T-cell Expressed, and Secreted (RANTES) 20 ng/ml, Interferon gamma-induced Protein 10 (IP-10) 25 ng/ml, Stromal-Derived Factor −1 (SDF-1) 10 ng/ml, or Stem Cell Growth Factor-β (SCGF-β) 5 ng/ml; Peprotech) in a 24-well tissue culture plate (Costar). Following 2 hours of migration all cells recovered in the lower chamber were collected, counted, and analyzed for CCSP expression by flow cytometry. Migrated CCSP
+ cells were determined as follows:
(1)
(2)
Protein quantification
Plasma samples were analyzed by Luminex-based multiplex array (BioRad Bio-Plex System) according to manufacturer protocols. Targets analyzed are listed in Additional file
1: Table S3. Bio-Plex Manager software was used for data acquisition.
Statistics
Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism software. Data are presented as median ± range, with whiskers encompassing the 5-95th percentiles. Normality was tested using the D’Agostino & Pearson omnibus test and non-parametric tests were used throughout. A Mann–Whitney test was used for comparison of non-parametric variables between two groups. Multiple comparisons were made using a Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparison post-test correction. Spearman rank test with correlation coefficient was used to determine relationships between two variables. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05.
Discussion
The results presented demonstrate a relationship between the profile of putative lung progenitor cell populations and chronic lung diseases. Specific relationships between increased CCSP+ epithelial-like progenitors and cystic fibrosis and between increased circulating fibrocytes and fibrotic diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis and bronchiolitis obliterans were identified. Furthermore, the results suggest the involvement of key chemotactic mediators, including SDF-1, SCGF-β, and MCP-1 in the recruitment or maintenance of these cell populations within the specific disease groups studied.
In our previous publication [
8] we reported that murine bone marrow contains a population of cells which express CCSP on their surface. This was confirmed by PCR on FACS-sorted populations, western blotting, and with the use of CCSP knockout mice. This population demonstrated a greater propensity to express a lung epithelial phenotype at the gene and protein level and was preferentially retained in injured lung, compared to other bone marrow cells and contributed to the epithelial lining after bone marrow transplantation. As a result of these properties, we termed these cells epithelial-like progenitor cells. We also reported that human marrow contains a similar population by flow cytometry. Here we confirm that human bone marrow and peripheral blood contain such cells using specific Taqman-based PCR probes. Of note, the amount of CCSP mRNA is roughly 60 fold lower than bronchial tissues, but many fold higher than other types of bone marrow cells.
The assessment of both epithelial-like and fibroblast progenitor cell populations in chronic end-stage lung disease patients has not been previously reported. We hypothesized that when studying such variable diseases, the measurement of two cell populations with potentially contradictory functions would provide a more complete understanding. Indeed, there are significant differences in these cell populations when compared between underlying diseases. Specifically, CCSP
+ cells in the bone marrow and peripheral blood were increased in CF patients where small airway epithelial damage and injury may be a predominant and persisting stimulus. Acknowledging the differences between acute and chronic lung injury, and between mouse and human studies, these findings support our original observations in mice where these cells increased following an epithelial-specific naphthalene-induced airway injury. We speculate that this may be attributable to a sustained but unresolved effort to repair the damaged CF epithelium leading to a persistent inflammatory environment resulting in a perpetual recruitment signal to the bone marrow and accumulation of the CCSP
+ epithelial-like progenitor population. It has previously been reported that bronchial epithelium from CF patients is more proliferative than that from non-CF airways [
12]. Humanized airway xenografts, where CF-derived cells portrayed a greater proliferative potential, were further characterized by remodelling, delayed differentiation, and altered pro-inflammatory responses [
13].
The observation that circulating fibrocytes are increased in fibrotic diseases is in agreement with prior evidence [
10,
14]. We also have documented that BO patients are a particularly striking subset in terms of very high numbers of fibrocytes [
11]. This supports the hypothesis that circulating fibrocytes can contribute to the lung fibroblast population, either through paracrine activation of endogenous fibroblasts or by engraftment and direct contribution to matrix deposition and remodelling. The measurement of both epithelial and mesenchymal progenitor populations has identified changes in these cell numbers that correspond with changes in the underlying epithelial or mesenchymal lung pathology. Specifically, increased epithelial-like progenitors were identified in CF where the epithelium is hyperplastic, whereas mesenchymal progenitors were increased in disease characterized by fibroproliferation. Although many common mechanisms exist in end-stage lung disease patients, the unique biology of CF versus fibrotic lung disease may be further described by these novel differences in progenitor cells numbers, opening up new avenues of investigation.
Importantly, no correlations were found between patient age, gender, or BMI, suggesting that these demographic parameters do not seem to influence the observed changes in cell profiles. Yet a correlation between the proportion of CCSP
+ BMCs and PBMCs was identified, suggesting a relationship between number of bone marrow cells in reserve and the number that can exit and traffic through peripheral blood. SCGF-β was found to correlate significantly with the number of both CCSP
+ cell populations. It is possible that SCGF-β may act as an endogenous mitogen for the epithelial-like progenitors, as have been described for CD34
+ hematopoietic cells [
15], although the direct source of this factor has not been determined in this study. No correlations were identified between CCSP
+ cell populations and the proportion of circulating fibrocytes. This suggests that distinct mechanisms may be responsible for the recruitment of each population and argues against a generalized alteration in marrow-derived cell mobilization or trafficking.
This study has several limitations, most importantly the cross-sectional design. Future studies will be needed to obtain data from patients at various points during the development of their lung disease. However it is doubtful that sampling of the bone marrow will be possible in such a longitudinal follow up study. In these patients, all with severe end-stage lung disease awaiting lung transplantation, there was no significant relationship between CCSP+ BMCs/PBMCs or CD45+Collagen-1+ cells and FEV1/FVC ratio in CF or COPD patients or with the % predicted FVC for pulmonary fibrosis patients. This does not exclude the possibility that these cell populations contribute to lung disease pathology, and further analysis in patients at much earlier stages of the lung disease will be important future priorities. In addition, many other important clinical parameters influence pulmonary function and these confounding variables may have obscured any relationship between cell numbers and lung function. Another limitation is the use of lung donors as a control group. While not ideal, as this group may well have acute or chronic damage to the lung, it represented the only option for analysis of bone marrow as sternal harvest of truly normal controls would not be ethical.
In an effort to understand the mechanisms responsible for different progenitor cell profiles between lung diseases, key chemokines and receptors were analyzed. Fibrocytes have been previously been reported to express a number of important chemokine receptors including CXCR4 [
9], CCR2 [
16], and CCR7 [
17]. When CCSP
+ BMCs and PBMCs were analyzed for a panel of similar receptors, expression of CCR2, CCR4, CXCR3, and CXCR4 was identified. It is expected that some pathways are redundant and some cytokines will have the ability to activate both cell populations. This is perhaps evidence of the bone marrow origin of both populations.
Migration studies for CCSP
+ were performed to investigate the
in vitro response to various chemokines. Migration was not analyzed for fibrocytes, as this has been previously reported [
9,
18]. Here, we found that Stromal Derived Factor (SDF-1) was an important migration stimulus for CCSP
+ cells, as has also been reported for fibrocytes. It has been previously reported that neutralizing antibodies against SDF-1 can attenuate the fibrotic effects of bleomycin-induced mouse lung injury [
9]. Pulmonary expression of SDF-1 has also been reported in the context of lung injury and the recruitment of bone marrow-derived cells [
19]. SCGF-β was also found to induce migration of CCSP
+ PBMCs and BMCs in end-stage lung disease patients. This supports the observed correlation between this plasma cytokine and the number of CCSP
+ cells measured. Expression of SCGF-β transcripts is reportedly restricted to cells of the myeloid lineage [
20], which may include resident lung macrophages. The expression of CCR2 by both cell populations, as well as the increase in the ligands IP-10 and MCP-1 in pulmonary fibrosis further highlights the role of inflammation in many end-stage lung diseases. The plasma concentration of MCP-1 was further shown to correlate to the number of circulating fibrocytes, again identifying a role for CCR2-mediated recruitment of progenitor cells, which may be enhanced in the fibrotic patient.
Interestingly, MIF was found to be specifically increased in CF patients, perhaps suggesting a unique role for CD74 or CXCR4 in the mechanism of CCSP
+ cell recruitment. It has been reported that MIF can act as a ligand for CXCR4 and induce the migration of monocytes and T-cells, perhaps suggesting a novel mechanism of epithelial-like progenitor cell trafficking [
21,
22]. MIF is a pleiotropic inflammatory mediator with chemokine-like functions that can direct migration of leukocytes to inflammatory sites [
21]. MIF has also been shown to be produced by epithelial cells [
23] and activated alveolar macrophages [
24], suggesting a potential mechanism by which damaged CF epithelium recruits circulating CCSP
+ cells. Enhancing CCSP
+ recruitment using MIF may not be a viable therapeutic option as MIF acts on multiple cells types and may exacerbate inflammatory responses.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
SEG: Data acquisition. Conception, design, critical interpretation of the results. Manuscript preparation and revision. KL: Data Collection. Manuscript revision. GTC: Data acquisition, critical interpretation of the results. Manuscript revision. MC: critical interpretation of the study. Manuscript revision. MS: critical interpretation of the study. Manuscript revision. LGS: critical interpretation of the study. Manuscript revision. SK: critical interpretation of the study. Manuscript revision. TKW: conception, design, critical interpretation. Manuscript revision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.