RNA Sequencing and Related Differential Gene Expression Analysis in a Mouse Model of Emphysema Induced by Tobacco Smoke Combined with Elastin Peptides

Xin Feng; Jiehua Deng; Xiaofeng Li; Hui Zhang; Xuan Wei; Tingting Ma; Shudan Tang; Jianquan Zhang

doi:10.2147/COPD.S397400

RNA Sequencing and Related Differential Gene Expression Analysis in a Mouse Model of Emphysema Induced by Tobacco Smoke Combined with Elastin Peptides

Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2023 Oct 3:18:2147-2161. doi: 10.2147/COPD.S397400. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xin Feng^#^{1

2}, Jiehua Deng^#^{1

2}, Xiaofeng Li², Hui Zhang², Xuan Wei², Tingting Ma³, Shudan Tang², Jianquan Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, The Eighth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518000, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, Zhuhai People's Hospital, Zhuhai, Guangdong, 519099, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objective: To establish a model of emphysema induced by tobacco smoke combined with elastin peptides (EP), explore the biochemical metabolic processes and signal transduction pathways related to emphysema occurrence and development at the transcriptional level, and identify new targets and signaling pathways for emphysema prevention and treatment.

Methods: Mice were randomly divided into the air pseudoexposure group (NORMAL group) and the tobacco smoke + EP group (EP group). The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in lung tissue between the two groups were identified by RNA-seq, and functional annotation and Gene Ontology (GO)/ Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed. The differential expression of the selected genes were verified using qRT‒PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC).

Results: EP group mice showed emphysema-like changes. The expression levels of 1159 genes in the EP group differed significantly (529 up-regulated and 630 down-regulated) from those in the NORMAL group. GO enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were significantly enriched in the terms immune system, adaptive immune response, and phosphorylation, while KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were enriched mainly in the pathways cytokine‒cytokine receptor interaction, T-cell receptor signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, Rap1 signaling pathway, endocytosis, chemokine signaling pathway, Th17 cell differentiation, and Th1 and Th2 cell differentiation. The differential expression of the selected DEGs were verified by qRT‒PCR and IHC, and the expression trends of these genes were consistent with those identified by RNA-seq.

Conclusion: Emphysema may be related to the inflammatory response, immune response, immune regulation, oxidative stress injury, and other biological processes. The Bmp4-Smad-Hoxa5/Acvr2a signaling pathway may be involved in COPD/ emphysema occurrence and development.

Keywords: DEGs; RNA-seq; elastin peptide; emphysema; tobacco smoke.

MeSH terms

Animals
Computational Biology
Cytokines / genetics
Elastin
Emphysema*
Gene Expression Profiling
Mice
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive*
Pulmonary Emphysema* / genetics
Sequence Analysis, RNA
Tobacco Smoke Pollution*
Transcriptome

Substances

Tobacco Smoke Pollution
Elastin
Cytokines

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC81760010 and 82060364), the Science and Technology Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Foundation of Guangxi Key Research and Development Program (No. GuikeAB20238025), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (NO. 2021GXNSFBA220064), the Shenzhen Science Technology Program (NO. JCYJ20210324115000002) and Futian Healthcare Research Project (No: FTWS2021004).