Frontiers in Pharmacology (May 2020)

Polyporus Polysaccharide Ameliorates Bleomycin-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis by Suppressing Myofibroblast Differentiation via TGF-β/Smad2/3 Pathway

  • Jintao Jiang,
  • Jintao Jiang,
  • Fang Wang,
  • Aishu Luo,
  • Shiyu Lin,
  • Xiaoke Feng,
  • Wei Yan,
  • Yumeng Shi,
  • Qian Zhang,
  • Xin Gu,
  • Guoliang Cui,
  • Jianan Wang,
  • Lei Wang,
  • Qiande Zhang,
  • Wenfeng Tan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2020.00767
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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Pulmonary fibrosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in systemic sclerosis (SSc) with no effective medication. Polyporus polysaccharide (PPS), extracted from Chinese herbs, has immune regulation, anticancer, antioxidant and antiinflammatory activities. This study aims to investigate antifibrotic effects of PPS. We show that PPS markedly ameliorates bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis in mice. Myofibroblasts are the effector cells responsible for excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in fibrotic diseases. In vitro evidence reveals that PPS exerts potent antifibrotic effects by inhibiting fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition, suppressing ECM deposition, and repressing lung fibroblast proliferation and migration. We also find that PPS inhibits TGF-β1-induced Smad2/3 activating. This study is the first to demonstrate an antifibrotic role of PPS in lungs, thus warranting further therapeutic evaluation.

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