This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Correction  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on Web of Science (3)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Pathology of Head & Neck  • Otolaryngology/ Head & Neck Surgery, Other  • Quality of Life  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Wesley L. Hicks, Jr, MD; Leon A. Hall III, BSc; Robert Hard, PhD; Joseph Gardella, PhD; Frank Bright, PhD; Natesh Parasharama, MD; Jamson Lwebuga-Mukasa, MD, PhD; Lynn Sigurdson, PhD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2004;130:446-449.

Background  Delayed or nonreepithelialization of the large conducting airway (ie, trachea and bronchus) is a clinically recognized but poorly understood result of airway trauma. This delay results in granulation tissue formation and scarring, which impairs mucocilliary transport and can critically compromise gas exchange. Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) is a known epithelial cell mitogen that is derived from mesenchymal cells. We previously observed its expression in injured tracheal explants, and in the present study we investigated its origin.

Design  Freshly isolated porcine tracheal epithelial cells were cytospun onto glass slides for immunohistochemical identification and localization of KGF and for in situ hybridization localization of its messenger RNA. Polymerase chain reaction analysis for KGF was also performed.

Results  Freshly isolated respiratory epithelial cells were identified as being of epithelial origin and uncontaminated by fibroblasts, as evidenced by stains that were positive for AE3 and negative for vimentin. Immunohistochemical analysis and in situ hybridization revealed a subset of cells that were positive for both the protein and the message for KGF.

Conclusion  This subset of KGF-expressing respiratory epithelial cells may participate in a hitherto undescribed autocrine loop for stimulating KGF production in response to injury.

From the Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY (Drs Hicks, Parasharama, and Sigurdson and Mr Hall); the Departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology (Dr Hard) and Medicine (Dr Lwebuga-Mukasa), State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine; and the Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Buffalo (Drs Gardella and Bright). Dr Parasharama is now with the Department of Chemical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ. The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?