Novel Immune Response Evasion Strategy to Redose Adeno-associated Viral Vectors and Prolong Survival in Surfactant Protein-B Deficient Mice.

Surfactant protein-B (SP-B) deficiency is a lethal neonatal respiratory disease with few therapeutic options. Gene therapy using adeno-associated viruses (AAV) to deliver human cDNA (AAV-hSPB) can improve survival in a mouse model of SP-B deficiency. However, the effect of this gene therapy wanes.

Impact of Viral Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (LRTI) in Early Childhood (0-2 Years) on Lung Growth and Development and Lifelong Trajectories of Pulmonary Health: A National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop Summary.

Viral lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) are ubiquitous in early life. They are disproportionately severe in infants and toddlers (0-2 years), leading to more than 100,000 hospitalizations in the United States per year. The recent relative resilience to severe Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) observed in young children is surprising.

KLF5 Shapes Developing Respiratory Tubules by Inhibiting Actin Asymmetry in Epithelial Cells.

Tubulogenesis depends on precise cell shape changes driven by asymmetric tension from the actin cytoskeleton. How actin asymmetry is dynamically controlled to coordinate epithelial cell shape changes required for respiratory tubulogenesis remains unknown. Herein, we unveiled a critical role for the transcription factor KLF5, regulating actin asymmetry, inducing epithelial cell shape changes by balancing RHOA and CDC42 GTPase activity via RICH2.