Shaoyan Gao, Xiaohe Li, Qiuyan Jiang, Qing Liang, Fangxia Zhang, Shuangling Li, Ruiqin Zhang, Jiaoyan Luan, Jingyan Zhu, Xiaoting Gu, Ting Xiao, Hui Huang, Shanshan Chen, Wen Ning, Guang Yang, Cheng Yang, Honggang Zhou
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive interstitial lung disease, and the molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Our findings demonstrated that pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) promoted fibrosis progression by directly interacting with Smad7 and reinforcing transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) signaling. Total PKM2 expression and the portion of the tetrameric form elevated in lungs and fibroblasts were derived from mice with bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Pkm2 deletion markedly alleviated BLM-induced fibrosis progression, myofibroblast differentiation, and TGF-β1 signaling activation...
September 23, 2022: Science Advances