Thompson, Michael A.

The lung is an inherently mechanosensitive organ that can respond to mechanical forces in adaptive or maladaptive ways, including via remodeling resulting in increased fibrosis. We explored the mechanisms that link mechanical forces to remodeling using human lung fibroblasts. We found that mechanosensitive Piezo channels increase with stretch and mediate extracellular matrix formation and the fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition that occurs with stretch. Our data highlight the importance of Piezo channels in lung mechanotransduction toward remodeling.