Gene expression signatures for Normal-looking, fibrotic foci and hyperplastic (adjacent to fibrotic foci) area in IPF lungs

To further understand the pathologic microenvironment in IPF, we have employed whole genome microarray expression profiling as a discovery platform to identify genes with the potential to distinguish normal and IPF lung in normal-looking, fibrotic foci and hyperplastic areas of IPF lung. Four IPF lungs were dissected into normal-looking, fibrotic foci and hyperplastic areas by Laser-Capture-Microdissection. Gene expression analysis showed that 638 significantly different genes were identified that clearly distinguished the different IPF microenvironments . Among them, MMP19 was revealed as one of the most significantly up-regulated genes that distinguished normal looking epithelial cells (N) to hyperplastic epithelial cells, MMP19 up-regulation in IPF lungs was verified by immunohistochemical (IHC), qRT-PCR and Western-blot. IPF lungs are heterogeneity complex, which comprise normal looking area, fibrotic foci and hyperplastic area. In this study we separated the normal, fibrotic foci and hyperplastic area by LCM and employed Agilent whole genome gene expression microarray profiling to identify genes with the potential to distinguish the unique microenironment of IPF