Advisory Committee Chair
Stijn De Langhe
Advisory Committee Members
Manuel Rosa-Garrido
Namasivayam Ambalavanan
Stefanie Krick
Yong Zhou
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
1-1-2025
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Engineering
Abstract
During both lung development and regeneration, the proper coordination of different cellular populations working in concert are vital to proper development and wound repairs. Myofibroblasts, highly contractile mesenchymal cells, are vital the organization of cells during lung development and to the remodeling of the extra cellular matrix (ECM) during regeneration. As important as myofibroblasts are, their apoptosis or differentiation to a less contractile phenotype is equally important to normal development and regenerative processes. Excessive differentiation of myofibroblasts or the improper localization of myofibroblasts are associated with pulmonary fibrosis, which is characteristic of lung disease, such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Fibrosis permanently alters lung function and persistent fibrosis can ultimately result in death. The Hippo signaling pathway is believed to play a key role in the appropriate temporal-spatial expression of various mesenchymal cell populations, including myofibroblasts. The Hippo signaling pathway is better characterized in lung epithelial cells, while studies specifically within the mesenchyme are not as robust. In this study, we examine the interplay between mesenchymal and epithelial lung cells. We particularly focus on the Hippo pathway in the mesenchyme, while also considering how the mesenchymal Hippo signaling influences the differentiation and properties of mesenchymal cells as well as how it influences epithelial Hippo signaling. We examined how mesenchymal and epithelial cell signaling differ in part due to cell specific availability of transcriptional co-factors, such as Snail and Slug, which are found within mesenchymal cells and are lacking within epithelial.
Recommended Citation
Klinkhammer, Kylie, "Mesenchymal Hippo Signaling in Lung Development and Disease" (2025). All ETDs from UAB. 6858.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/6858
Comments
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