Lung injury induces alveolar type 2 cell hypertrophy and polyploidy with implications for repair and regeneration

Epithelial polyploidization post-injury is a conserved phenomenon, recently shown to improve barrier restoration during wound healing. Whether lung injury can induce alveolar epithelial polyploidy is not known. We show that bleomycin injury induces AT2 cell hypertrophy and polyploidy. AT2 polyploidization is also seen in short term ex vivo cultures, where AT2-to-AT1 trans-differentiation is associated with substantial binucleation due to failed cytokinesis. Both hypertrophic and polyploid features of AT2 cells can be attenuated by inhibiting the integrated stress response (ISR) using the small molecule ISRIB. These data suggest that AT2 polyploidization may be a feature of alveolar epithelial injury. As AT2 cells serve as facultative progenitors for the distal lung epithelium, a propensity for injury-induced binucleation has implications for AT2 self-renewal and regenerative potential upon re-injury, which may benefit from targeting the ISR.