Novel function of transglutaminase 2 in extracellular histone-induced acute lung injury

Extracellular histones induce endothelial damage, resulting in lung haemorrhage; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Factor XIII, as a Ca²⁺-dependent cross-linking enzyme in blood, mediates fibrin deposition. As another isozyme, transglutaminase 2 (TG2) has a catalytic activity distributing in most tissues. Herein, we investigated whether TG2 promotes fibrin deposition and mediates the adhesion of platelets to ECs in histone-induced acute lung injury (ALI). We evaluated the lung histology and the adhesion of platelets to endothelial cells (ECs) after injecting histones to wild-type (WT) C57BL/6J and TG2 knockout (TG2^−/−) mice, and administered a TG2 inhibitor (NC9) to WT mice. Pulmonary haemorrhage was more severe in TG2^−/− mice than that in WT mice. The area of fibrin deposition and the proportion of CD41⁺CD31⁺ cells were lower in TG2^−/− mice than in WT mice. Pre-treatment of NC9 decreased the area of fibrin deposition and the proportion of CD41⁺CD31⁺ cells in WT mice. These results suggest that TG2 prevents from pulmonary haemorrhage in ALI by promoting the adhesion of platelets to ECs and the fibrin deposition.