Jiajia Wang1, Rui Fang, Aaron Peterson, Jack J Jiang. 1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Reinke's edema (RE), one of the most common benign lesions of the human vocal folds, has been associated with cigarette smoking. We have observed an abundant number of autophagosomes in the cytoplasm of fibroblasts in the lamina propria of human vocal folds under transmission electron microscopy in RE tissue. Thus, we conducted a study about autophagy induced by cigarette smoke extract (CSE) exposure in cultured human vocal fold fibroblasts (hVFFs). METHODS: Sampled tissues were cultured and exposed to varying levels of CSE. Immunochemistry staining and Western blot analyses were then performed on the cultures. RESULTS: We demonstrated that CSE significantly promoted intracellular reactive oxygen species accumulation and reduced the viability of hVFFs in a concentration-dependent manner. Both immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis showed increased expression of the autophagy marker type II-membrane-associated light chain 3 in fibroblasts following 24 h of CSE exposure, indicating the upregulation of autophagy activity. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the induction of autophagy played a protective role in hVFFs exposed to CSE. CONCLUSION: Autophagy can be induced by CSE in hVFFs, and it is a protective response of hVFFs to the exposure of CSE. This study provides a new insight into the process involved in the development of RE.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Reinke's edema (RE), one of the most common benign lesions of the human vocal folds, has been associated with cigarette smoking. We have observed an abundant number of autophagosomes in the cytoplasm of fibroblasts in the lamina propria of human vocal folds under transmission electron microscopy in RE tissue. Thus, we conducted a study about autophagy induced by cigarette smoke extract (CSE) exposure in cultured human vocal fold fibroblasts (hVFFs). METHODS: Sampled tissues were cultured and exposed to varying levels of CSE. Immunochemistry staining and Western blot analyses were then performed on the cultures. RESULTS: We demonstrated that CSE significantly promoted intracellular reactive oxygen species accumulation and reduced the viability of hVFFs in a concentration-dependent manner. Both immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis showed increased expression of the autophagy marker type II-membrane-associated light chain 3 in fibroblasts following 24 h of CSE exposure, indicating the upregulation of autophagy activity. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the induction of autophagy played a protective role in hVFFs exposed to CSE. CONCLUSION: Autophagy can be induced by CSE in hVFFs, and it is a protective response of hVFFs to the exposure of CSE. This study provides a new insight into the process involved in the development of RE.
Authors: Markus Gugatschka; Barbara Darnhofer; Tanja Grossmann; Matthias Schittmayer; David Hortobagyi; Andrijana Kirsch; Eva Karpf; Luka Brcic; Ruth Birner-Gruenberger; Michael Karbiener Journal: Mol Cell Proteomics Date: 2019-05-22 Impact factor: 5.911