It has recently been shown that expression levels of
tissue factor (TF) are high in the serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with
asthma. However, whether TF impacts airway
inflammation and remodelling in
asthma remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of TF in
asthma airway
inflammation and remodelling using a house dust mite (HDM)-induced chronic
asthma model and human bronchial epithelial (16HBE) cells. A chronic
asthma model was constructed in BALB/c mice by the intranasal instillation of HDM. Mice were treated with short hairpin TF (shTF), and airway
inflammation and remodelling features of
asthma and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were assessed. 16HBE cells were induced by transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and HDM in the presence or absence of shTF; then, EMT markers and invasion and migration ability were determined. TF expression increased in the lung tissue and 16HBE cells when exposed to HDM. TF downregulation in the lung significantly reduced
airway hyperresponsiveness, eosinophil
inflammation, the EMT process, and levels of
interleukin (IL)-4,
IL-6,
IL-13, and TGF-β1 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of asthmatic mice. Moreover, TF downregulation inhibited migration and incursion and decreased the expression levels of
fibronectin 1 and TGF-β1, but increased the expression of
E-cadherin in HDM- and TGF-β1-stimulated 16HBE cells. These results demonstrated that TF promoted airway pathological features by enhancing the EMT of bronchial epithelial cells both in vitro and in mice with house dust mite-induced
asthma.