%0 Journal Article
%T Therapeutic effects of MEL-dKLA by targeting M2 macrophages in pulmonary fibrosis.
%A Choi I
%A Han IH
%A Cha N
%A Kim HY
%A Bae H
%J Biomed Pharmacother
%V 178
%N 0
%D 2024 Sep 2
%M 39096617
%F 7.419
%R 10.1016/j.biopha.2024.117246
%X Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive lung disease characterized by excessive extracellular matrix accumulation and myofibroblast proliferation with limited treatment options available. M2 macrophages are pivotal in pulmonary fibrosis, where they induce the epithelial-to-mesenchymal and fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transitions. In this study, we evaluated whether MEL-dKLA, a hybrid peptide that can eliminate M2 macrophages, could attenuate pulmonary fibrosis in a cell co-culture system and in a bleomycin-induced mouse model. Our findings demonstrated that the removal of M2 macrophages using MEL-dKLA stimulated reprogramming to an antifibrotic environment, which effectively suppressed epithelial-to-mesenchymal and fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition responses in lung epithelial and fibroblast cells and reduced extracellular matrix accumulation both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, MEL-dKLA exhibited antifibrotic efficacy without damaging tissue-resident macrophages in the bleomycin-induced mouse model. Collectively, our findings suggest that MEL-dKLA may be a new therapeutic option for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.