Microsomal Prostaglandin E Synthase-1 Deficiency Exacerbates Pulmonary Fibrosis Induced by Bleomycin in Mice

Microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase-1 (mPGES-1), an inducible enzyme that converts prostaglandin H2 (PGH(2)) to prostaglandin E2 (PGE(2)), plays an important role in a variety of diseases. So far, the role of mPGES-1 in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) remained unknown. The current study aimed to investigate the role of mPGES-1 in pulmonary fibrosis induced by bleomycin in mice. We found that mPGES-1 deficient (mPGES-1(−/−)) mice exhibited more severe fibrotic lesions with a decrease in PGE(2) content in lungs after bleomycin treatment when compared with wild type (mPGES-1(+/+)) mice. The mPGES-1 expression levels and PGE(2) content were also decreased in bleomycin-treated mPGES-1(+/+) mice compared to saline-treated mPGES-1(+/+) mice. Moreover, in both mPGES-1(−/−) and mPGES-1(+/+) mice, bleomycin treatment reduced the expression levels of E prostanoid receptor 2 (EP2) and EP4 receptor in lungs, whereas had little effect on EP1 and EP3. In cultured human lung fibroblast cells (MRC-5), siRNA-mediated knockdown of mPGES-1 augmented transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-induced α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) protein expression, and the increase was reversed by treatment of PGE(2), selective EP2 agonist and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor. In conclusion, these findings revealed mPGES-1 exerts an essential effect against pulmonary fibrogenesis via EP2-mediated signaling transduction, and activation of mPGES-1-PGE(2)-EP2-FAK signaling pathway may represent a new therapeutic strategy for treatment of IPF patients.