The Role of LINGO1 in Epithelial Wound Repair

Leucine-rich repeat and IgG-like domain containing NOGO-receptor interacting protein 1 (LINGO1) has an inhibitory role in neuronal growth and regeneration following injury; yet LINGO1 involvement in the injury response of other tissues has not been thoroughly explored. Previous studies have demonstrated that the reparative cytokines of the Trefoil factor family interact with members of the LINGO receptor family in maintenance of gastrointestinal barrier integrity, suggesting a role for LINGO receptors in epithelial repair processes. In this study, we investigated whether LINGO1 had a role in alveolar epithelial repair. A mouse alveolar epithelial cell line, MLE-12, was utilized in an in vitro scratch assay as a model of epithelial injury and repair. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion of Lingo1 resulted in significantly reduced wound closure at both 24 and 48 h post-scratch in comparison to parental (WT) cells. We preformed RNA sequencing of 24h post-scratch cells or un-scratched cells, and revealed a set of 147 differentially expressed genes between WT and Lingo1KO cells following scratch.