The role and immunological mechanism of microvesicles in neonatal chronic lung disease

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K19681
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Embryonic/Neonatal medicine
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University
• Principal Investigator: Wakabayashi Kenji 東京医科歯科大学, 大学院医歯学総合研究科, 助教 (20723795)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 新生児医学 / 集中治療医学 / 呼吸病学 / 生理学 / 免疫学 / 慢性肺疾患 / 細胞外小胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) remains a major complication of premature birth. Although the underlying mechanism for the evolution of BPD has not been well elucidated, intra-alveolar inflammation caused by various factors such as perinatal infection, mechanical ventilation, and hyperoxia is considered to play an important role. Extracellular microvesicles (MVs) carry a variety of molecules (proteins, lipids, RNAs, etc) as their cargo and their expression of surface markers allow us to identify parental cells, making them an informative biomarker in various inflammatory diseases. In this study, we investigated MV numbers and their subtypes within the alveolar space during the development of BPD in mice. We demonstrated, for the first time, that neutrophil-derived MVs increased within intra-alveolar space in the very early stage of BPD. Our findings suggest that intra-alveolar neutrophil-derived MVs may serve as a useful early biomarker of BPD, which warrants further investigation.

Free Research Field

集中治療医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

新生児慢性肺疾患は低出生体重児として出生後の新生児集中治療室治療後の最大の合併症であり、社会経済的にも影響が大きい疾患である。本研究は実験モデルを用いて、細胞外小胞の一種であるmicrovesicles (MV)、中でも好中球由来MVsが肺内に増加することを示した。本研究は好中球由来MVsが発症メカニズムにおいて重要な役割を果たしている可能性を示唆し、加えて病状を反映する新規指標になる可能性を示した。