Dexamethasone and Insulin Affecting SFTPA1 and SFTPA2 mRNA Levels
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Advances in Molecular and Cancer Biology, 2010 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Genetics and molecular biology |
| Keywords | Lung surfactant; Insulin; Dexamethasone |
| Description | Lung surfactants primary function is to lower surface tension and therefore it protects alveoli from collapsing. It consists of phospholipids and four proteins. These proteins stabilize the surfactant layer (SFTPB and SFTPC) and modulate immunological response to various pathogens (SFTPA, SFTPD), which is the secondary role of lung surfactant. Low levels of surfactant proteins lead to severe diseases. Dexamethasone and insulin were applied on H441 cell line. This cell line resembles Clara cells and therefore serves as a model of lung surfactant producing cells. SFTPA1 (and its analog SFTPA2) were not affected by insulin (2500 ng/mL), but dexamethasone treatment (10-7 M) for 48 hours resulted in 50% decrease in their mRNA production. Surprisingly, combination of dexamethasone and insulin resulted in 90% decrease. |
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