2. Academic Validation
  3. USP22/BRD4 mediated hedgehog pathway activation contributes to airway remodeling in asthma

USP22/BRD4 mediated hedgehog pathway activation contributes to airway remodeling in asthma

  • Int Immunopharmacol. 2025 Apr 24:153:114538. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2025.114538.
Huan Chen 1,  Jin Liu 1,  Jia Zhang 1,  Yuqian Chen 1,  Yan Wang 1,  Yuanjie Qiu 1,  Huizhong Hu 1,  Limin Chai 1,  Qianqian Zhang 2,  Qingting Wang 1,  Manxiang Li 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, China.
  • 2 Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, China.
  • 3 Department of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, China. Electronic address: manxiangli@hotmail.com.
PMID: 40132456 DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2025.114538
Abstract

Bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) is recognized as a member of the bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) family that is involved in the airway inflammation and airway remodeling of asthma. However, the underlying mechanisms of BRD4 in airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) proliferation and airway remodeling remain unclear. Primary cultured rat ASMCs and ovalbumin (OVA)-induced rat asthma models were applied to address these issues in the present study. We showed that transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) increased the protein expression of ubiquitin specific peptidase 22 (USP22), which deubiquitinated BRD4 therefore increased its expression, and then resulted in the upregulation of glioma-associated oncogene homolog 1 (GLI1) and Osteopontin (OPN) leading to ASMCs proliferation. We further confirmed that induction of TGF-β1 sequentially upregulated USP22, BRD4, GLI1 and OPN leading to airway remodeling in OVA-induced rat asthma models, targeting TGF-β1/USP22/BRD4/GLI1/OPN pathway axis effectively attenuated airway remodeling and asthma development. Our study provides novel sights to understand the role of TGF-β1/USP22/BRD4/GLI1/OPN axis in airway remodeling, and targeting this pathway might have potential value for the prevention and treatment of asthma.

Keywords

Airway remodeling; Asthma; BRD4; GLI1; USP22.

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