Dysfunctional ERG signaling drives pulmonary vascular aging and persistent fibrosis

We identified the transcription factor ETS-related gene (ERG) as a putative orchestrator of lung capillary homeostasis and repair following injury, and whose function was dysregulated in aging. Single-cell RNA-seq of ERG deficient mouse lungs revealed transcriptional abnormalities and fibrogenic features, resembling those associated with aging and IPF, including reduced number of lung progenitor ECs, known as general capillary (gCap) ECs. ERG fl/fl and CDH5-CreER(T): ERG fl/fl mice were injected with 5 injections of 0.5 mg tamoxifen daily. Ninty days after tamoxifen injections, whole lungs were isolated and digested using the Miltenyi Biotec Lung Dissociation Kit to create a single cell suspsensions used for single cell sequencing