HDAC inhibitors may regulate EMT and surfactant protein C in human alveolar epithelial cells

The putative progenitor alveolar epithelial type II (ATII) cells restore epithelial barrier integrity by transdifferentiating into alveolar type I (ATI) cells. We investigated to see whether inhibition of histone deacetylases (HDAC) could reverse epithelial to mesenchymal (EMT) like intermediate phenotype during differentiation of ATII cells. Methods: Primary human ATII cells in monolayer or co-cultured with fibroblasts were treated with 5µM of HDAC inhibitor (HDACi) MS-275 (MS) and 10ng/ml of TGFβ to assess molecular targets. Results: MS upregulated the gradual downregulated expression of surfactant protein C (SPC) - marker of ATII cells - in both monolayer and co-culture (p Conclusion: These results show that HDAC inhibitors may regulate EMT-like phenotype during transdifferentiation of ATII cells and promote expression of SPC by repression of transcription factor Hop.