Transcriptomic analysis of miR-19a-19b-20a subcluster-overexpressed fibroblasts in bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis

Lung fibroblasts play a pivotal role in pulmonary fibrosis, a devastating lung diseases, by producing extracellular matrix. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) suppress a lot of genes posttranscriptionally, but the dynamics and the role of miRNAs in activated lung fibroblasts in fibrotic lung has been poorly understood. We found miR-19a, 19b and 20a subcluster expression increased in activated lung fibroblasts as the fibrosis progression. To elucidate whether fibroblast-specific intervention against miR-19a, 19b and 20a subcluster modulates pathogenic activation of lung fibroblasts in vivo, we intratracheally-transferred the subcluster-overexpressed fibroblasts into bleomycin-treated lungs and performed global transcriptome analysis. miR-19a, 19b and 20a subcluster-overexpressed fibroblasts and mock-expressed fibroblasts were intratracheally-transferred to B6 mice at day 7 post-administration of 2 mg/kg of bleomycin. Donor cells were recoverred at day 3 post-transfer by cell sotring. Global transcriptome of transferred fibroblasts was generated by 3'SAGE-seq using Ion Proton sequencer.