Characterization of smoking-associated transcriptomic alterations to the human bronchial epithelium

The human bronchial epithelium is composed of multiple, discrete cell types that cooperate to perform mucociliary clearance. While previous studies have shown that cigarette smoke can alter bronchial epithelial gene expression, the underlying effects of this exposure on specific cell types are not well understood. In this thesis, single-cell RNA sequencing was used to profile bronchial epithelial cells from six current smokers and six never smokers. Thirteen cell clusters were identified that were defined by expression of unique combinations of nineteen distinct gene sets. This clustering revealed that smoke exposure induced expression of a toxin metabolism program that specifically associated with ciliated cells. Extensive airway remodeling was also observed, in which smoking was associated with loss of club cells as well as goblet cell expansion and hyperplasia. Additionally, a previously uncharacterized CEACAM5+ KRT8+ epithelial subpopulation was identified in the airways of smokers. While it has been shown that most smoking-associated gene expression alterations can be reversed upon smoking cessation, a subset of these alterations persists in former smokers. The basal layer of the bronchial epithelium is comprised of a multipotent progenitor subpopulation. When abnormalities persist in the bronchial epithelium despite normal tissue turnover, the source of these abnormalities may be traced to this progenitor population and its program of differentiation. Therefore, basal cells were procured from three current smokers and three never smokers, differentiated in vitro, and profiled by RNA sequencing at eight time points spanning the differentiation procedure. Twenty-seven unique sets of co-expressed genes associated with differentiation were identified and functionally characterized, a subset of which were abnormally expressed in smoker cells. Robust expression of genes involved with the unfolded protein response was specifically detected in smoker basal cells. Additionally, a smoking-associated delay in the onset of expression of genes involved with ciliogenesis was observed. These data therefore indicate that smoking has long-term consequences on the differentiated state of the airway epithelium. Collectively, the observations outlined in this thesis demonstrate that smoking drives a complex landscape of alterations that affects the function and composition of the human bronchial epithelium.2020-10-24T00:00:00