IL-13 signaling through IL-13 receptor α2 mediates airway epithelial wound repair

What is it about?

The lung is a network of branched tubes and the cells which line these tubes known as airway epithelial cells (AEC) are important in maintaining lung health. As the first cells to have contact with inhaled air, AEC provide a barrier to the outside environment. AEC are often injured because of continuous exposure to foreign particles. In normal lungs such injury is rapidly repaired, but it is not the case in asthma. Examinations of lungs from asthmatic patients show that AEC are excessively damaged and do not repair properly. Consequently, as AEC continually try to repair the damage to the airway, they release signals that worsen the swelling and scarring in the air tubes, which are responsible for the breathing problems associated with asthma. In order to find a cure for asthma, it is therefore critical to understand how injury and repair of AEC occur. This project focuses on a molecule called interleukin-13 (IL-13) which is important in asthma and has been identified by our laboratory to play a major role in normal repair of AEC. IL-13 communicates to a cell through binding to two different molecules that are present on the outer surface of the cell called IL-13 receptors. We aim to determine what roles IL-13 receptors have in the normal repair process within the lung and the development of asthma. Our ultimate goal is to find new targets for drugs to restore repair back to normal in the lungs of asthmatic patients and stop the damage to AEC.

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