Pro-fibrotic Activities for Matrix Metalloproteinase-8 During Bleomycin-mediated Lung Injury1

Matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8) is a potent interstitial collagenase thought to be expressed mainly by PMNs. To determine whether Mmp-8 regulates lung inflammatory or fibrotic responses to bleomycin, we delivered bleomycin by the intratracheal (IT) route to wild type (WT) vs. Mmp-8 −/− mice and quantified Mmp-8 expression, and inflammation and fibrosis in the lung samples. Mmp-8 steady-state mRNA and protein levels increase in whole lung and bronchoalveolar lavage samples when WT mice are treated with bleomycin. Activated murine lung fibroblasts express Mmp-8 in vitro . MMP-8 expression is increased in leukocytes in the lungs of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis compared with control lung samples. Compared with bleomycin-treated WT mice, bleomycin-treated Mmp-8 −/− mice have greater lung inflammation, but reduced lung fibrosis. While bleomycin-treated Mmp-8 −/− and WT mice have similar lung levels of several pro- and anti-fibrotic mediators (Tgf-β, Il-13, JE, and Ifn-γ), Mmp-8 −/− mice have higher lung levels of Ip-10 and Mip-1α. Genetically deleting either Ip-10 or Mip-1α in Mmp-8 −/− mice abrogates their lung inflammatory response to bleomycin but reconstitutes their lung fibrotic response to bleomycin. Studies of bleomycin-treated Mmp-8 bone marrow-chimeric mice show that both leukocytes and lung parenchymal cells are sources of pro-fibrotic Mmp-8 during bleomycin-mediated lung fibrosis. Thus, during bleomycin-mediated lung injury, Mmp-8 dampens the lung acute inflammatory response but promotes lung fibrosis by reducing lung levels of Ip-10 and Mip-1α. These data indicate therapeutic strategies to reduce lung levels of MMP-8 may limit fibroproliferative responses to injury in the human lung.