Characteristics of core fucosylation changes of TGF-β1-induced pericyte tranformation in mouse lungs

Recent studies have shown that during the development of pulmonary fibrosis, pericytes are a significant source of myofibroblasts. However, the specific mechanism involved in the transformation of pericytes into myofibroblasts remains unknown. Moreover, there is evidence that pericyte transdifferentiation is a complex process involving the activation of a multi-signaling pathway. Our previous studies found that core fucosylation (CF) alleviates the development of organ fibrosis by regulating the TGF/Smad2/3 signaling pathway. The objective of this study was to treat pericytes with TGF-beta 1 for different time to observe whether pericytes transform into myofibroblasts. Moreover, we sought to detect the surface expression of PDGF beta R on pericytes and the changes in CF. We found that during pericyte transdifferentiation, alpha-1,6 core fucosyltransferase (FUT8) catalyzed CF, which was necessary for this process. Thus, we adopted a FUT8 small interference RNA technique to inhibit the expression of CF to block the activation of the PDGF beta/Erk signaling pathway. Furthermore, the inhibition of CF expression is an optional method for inhibiting pericytes from transdifferentiating into myofibroblasts. Our findings indicate that CF plays an important role in the transformation of pericytes into myofibroblast. This study provides a theoretical basis for understanding the penetration and intersection of glycobiology and pneumonopathy through in vitro experimental analysis.