Transcriptome data of mouse distal lung epithelial cells with different Wnt/β-catenin activity. Transcriptome data of mouse distal lung epithelial cells with different Wnt/β-catenin activity

Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates progenitor cell fate decisions during lung development and in various adult tissues. Ectopic activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling promotes tissue repair in emphysema, a devastating lung disease with progressive loss of parenchymal lung tissue. The identity of Wnt/β-catenin responsive progenitor cells and the potential impact of Wnt/β-catenin signaling on adult distal lung epithelial progenitor cell function in emphysema, are poorly understood. Here, we used a TCF/Lef:H2B/GFP reporter mice to investigate the role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in lung organoid formation. We identified an organoid-forming adult distal lung epithelial progenitor cell population characterized by a low Wnt/β-catenin activity, which was enriched in club and alveolar epithelial type (AT)II cells. To further characterize the lung epithelial populations with different Wnt activities, we perform microarray analysis using freshly isolated Wnthigh/low/negative lung epithelial cells to study their transcriptome, specially the enriched genes and signaling pathways in the Wnt low population related epithelial stem cell functions. Overall design: Fresh lung epithelial cells with different Wnt activities labeld by GFP expression were isolated and FACS sorted to perform transcriptome analysis using microarray. Totally 18 samples with 6 experimental replicates of 3 epithelial populations with high, low and negative Wnt activity were generated.

Wnt/β-连环蛋白（Wnt/β-catenin）信号通路在肺发育过程及多种成体组织中调控祖细胞的命运抉择。Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路的异位激活可促进肺气肿的组织修复，而肺气肿是一种以肺实质组织进行性丢失为特征的毁灭性肺部疾病。目前对于Wnt/β-连环蛋白响应的祖细胞的分子特征，以及Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路在肺气肿中对成体远端肺上皮祖细胞功能的潜在影响，仍知之甚少。本研究采用TCF/Lef:H2B/GFP报告基因（TCF/Lef:H2B/GFP reporter）小鼠，探究Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路在肺类器官形成中的作用。我们鉴定出一类具备低Wnt/β-连环蛋白活性、可形成类器官的成体远端肺上皮祖细胞群，该细胞群富集于克拉拉（club）细胞及肺泡上皮Ⅱ型（alveolar epithelial type II, ATII）细胞中。为进一步表征具有不同Wnt活性的肺上皮细胞群，我们对新鲜分离的Wnt高、低及阴性活性肺上皮细胞开展微阵列分析，以解析其转录组特征，重点关注Wnt低活性群体中富集的、与上皮干细胞功能相关的基因及信号通路。实验设计概述：通过绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）表达标记不同Wnt活性的新鲜肺上皮细胞，经分离及荧光激活细胞分选（Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting, FACS）后开展微阵列转录组分析。最终获得18个样本，涵盖3类具有高、低及阴性Wnt活性的上皮细胞群，每类设置6个生物学重复。