Gpr116 regulates pulmonary surfactant pool size

The amount of pulmonary surfactant within type II cells and in the alveolar space, referred to as surfactant pool sizes, are tightly regulated. The molecular pathways that sense and regulate surfactant pool size within the alveolus have not been identified and constitute a fundamental knowledge gap in the field. Our data show that mice with a germline mutation in the orphan G-protein-coupled receptor, GPR116, have a 30-fold accumulation of surfactant phospholipids that causes respiratory distress in adult animals. This phenotype is associated with increased surfactant secretion and induction of the purinergic receptor P2RY2 in young animals, and lipid-laden macrophages and alveolar destruction in older animals. We further demonstrate that GPR116 mRNA expression is developmentally regulated in the murine lung with peak expression at birth when surfactant pool sizes are maximal. Within the lung, GPR116 protein expression is restricted to the apical plasma membrane of alveolar type I and type II epithelial cells. To better understand the roles and molecular mechanisms by which Gpr116 influences gene expression in lung, the effect of cell-selective deletion of Gpr116 (Gpr116D/D) on genome-wide mRNA expression profiles was determined in murine type II alveolar epithelial cells. Differentially expressed genes were identified from Affymetrix Murine GeneChips analysis and subjected to gene ontology classification promoter analysis, pathway mapping and literature mining.