Orosomucoid-like 3 (ORMDL3) upregulates airway smooth muscle proliferation, contraction, and Ca oscillations in asthma.

Background: Airway hyperresponsiveness is a major feature of asthma attributed predominantly to an extrinsic immune/inflammatory response increasing airway smooth muscle (ASM) contractility.

Objective: We investigated whether increased ASM expression of orosomucoid-like 3 (ORMDL3), a gene on chromosome 17q21 highly linked to asthma, induced increased ASM proliferation and contractility in vitro and influenced airway contractility and calcium flux in ASM in precision-cut lung slices (PCLSs) from wild-type and hORMDL3 mice (which express increased levels of human ORMDL3 [hORMDL3]).

Methods: Levels of ASM proliferation and contraction were assessed in ASM cells transfected with ORMDL3 in vitro. In addition, airway contractility and calcium oscillations were quantitated in ASM cells in PCLSs derived from naive wild-type and naive hORMDL3 mice, which do not have a blood supply.

Results: Increased ASM expression of ORMDL3 in vitro resulted in increased ASM proliferation and contractility. PCLSs derived from naive hORMDL3 mice, which do not have airway inflammation, exhibit increased airway contractility with increased calcium oscillations in ASM cells. Increased ASM ORMDL3 expression increases levels of ASM sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca ATPase 2b (SERCA2b), which increases ASM proliferation and contractility.

Conclusion: Overall, these studies provide evidence that an intrinsic increase in ORMDL3 expression in ASM can induce increased ASM proliferation and contractility, which might contribute to increased airway hyperresponsiveness in the absence of airway inflammation in asthmatic patients.