Bradley W Richmond, Clayton B Marshall, Jessica B Blackburn, Tiffany S Tufenkjian, Brian D Lehmann, Wei Han, Dawn Newcomb, Sergey S Gutor, Raphael P Hunt, Danielle L Michell, Kasey C Vickers, Vasiliy V Polosukhin, Timothy S Blackwell, Jennifer A Pietenpol
Rationale: Multiciliated cell (MCC) loss and/or dysfunction is common in the small airways of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but it is unclear if this contributes to COPD lung pathology. Objectives: To determine if loss of p73 causes a COPD-like phenotype in mice and explore whether smoking or COPD impact p73 expression. Methods: p73floxE7-E9 mice were crossed with Shh-Cre mice to generate mice lacking MCCs in the airway epithelium. The resulting p73Δairway mice were analyzed using electron microscopy, flow cytometry, morphometry, forced oscillation technique, and single-cell RNA sequencing...
January 15, 2024: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine