Evaluation of epithelial and mesenchymal gene expression profiles in lungs from ΔEpiJnk1 mice, or control groups subjected to bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis.

Analysis of mesenchymal (A) or epithelial (B) mRNA expression in homogenized lung tissue from mice exposed to bleomycin for 3 weeks. Results were normalized to the housekeeping gene cyclophilin, and are expressed as fold expression changes (+/- SEM) compared to the WT vehicle control groups. (WT- Jnk1: PBS n = 6, Bleo n = 12, ΔEpiJnk1: PBS n = 5, Bleo n = 8 respectively mice/group from 2 independent experiments). * p< 0.05 compared to the PBS control group. † p< 0.05 compared to the respective WT group. (ANOVA). C: Evaluation of mesenchymal proteins (α-SMA (Acta2), Col1a1, FSP1 (S100a4)) in lungs from ΔEpiJNK1 mice, or control groups subjected to bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis, and the impact of ablation of epithelial JNK1. Homogenized lung tissues were subjected to Western blot analysis for the indicated proteins. β-actin: Loading control. Shown are results from individual mice.