In contrast to lung fibroblasts - no signs of senescence in skin fibroblasts of patients with emphysema

Smoking is known to be linked to skin ageing and there is evidence for premature senescence of parenchymal lung fibroblasts in emphysema. To reveal whether the emphysema-related changes in cellular phenotype extend beyond the lung, we compared the proliferation characteristics of lung and skin fibroblasts between patients with and without emphysema. Parenchymal lung fibroblasts and skin fibroblasts from the upper torso (thus limiting sun exposure bias) were obtained from patients without, or with mild, or with moderate to severe emphysema undergoing lung surgery. We analysed proliferation rate, population doublings (PD), staining for senescence-associated β-galactosidase (β-gal) and gene expression of IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-rP1. Population doubling time of lung fibroblasts differed between control, mild, and moderate to severe emphysema (median (IQR) 29.7(10.0), 33.4(6.1), 44.4(21.2) h; p = 0.012) and staining for β-gal was elevated in moderate to severe emphysema. Compared to control subjects, skin fibroblasts from patients with emphysema did not differ with respect to proliferation rate, PD and β-gal staining, and showed a lower abundance of mRNA for IGFBP-3 and -rP1 (p < 0.05, each). These results suggest that the induction of a senescent fibroblast phenotype by cigarette smoke, as observed in emphysema, primarily occurs in the lung.