CD5L Deficiency Protects Mice Against Bleomycin-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis

Background: Pulmonary fibrosis (PF), the most common clinical type of irreversible interstitial lung disease with one of the worse prognoses, has a largely unknown molecular mechanisms that underlies its progression. CD5 molecule-like (CD5L) functions in an indispensable role during inflammatory responses; however, whether CD5L functions in regulating bleomycin (BLM)-induced lung fibrosis is less clear.

Methods: Herein, we describe the engineering of CD5L knockout mice using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology. The BLM-induced model of acute lung injury represents the most widely used experimental rodent model for PF.

Results: Taking advantage of this model, we demonstrated that both CD5L mRNA and protein were enriched in the lungs of mice following BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Inhibition of CD5L prevented mice from BLM-induced lung fibrosis and injury. In particular, a lack of CD5L significantly attenuated inflammatory response and promoted M2 polarization in the lung of this pulmonary fibrosis model as well as suppressing macrophage Apoptosis.

Conclusions: Collectively, our data support that CD5L deficiency can suppress the development of pulmonary fibrosis, and also provides new molecular targets for the use of immunotherapy to treat lung fibrosis.