Premium accounts now available! Sign up and create a premium account. Read more Close

Advertisement

Image

Heme orchestrates a tissue stress response to proteolytic damage

Preprint Created on 01 Jun 2026 bioRxiv

Whereas cellular stress responses are well defined, tissue-level stress remains poorly understood. Proteases are among the most widespread enzymes, and excessive proteolytic activity drives diseases such as arthritis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, yet unifying features of this stress are unclear. Here, using the lung and diverse proteases, we identify a conserved injury signature of proteolytic stress marked by vascular disruption, red blood cell extravasation, and heme release that triggers oxidative stress. We show that alveolar macrophages act as primary sensors of this stress response, activating NRF2-dependent heme detoxification program and fibroblasts produce protease inhibitors to limit damage. Repeated exposure to proteolytic stress induces tissue adaptation and protects against subsequent injury and infection. These findings define a unifying framework for tissue-level proteolytic stress sensing and adaptation.

Agaronyan, K., Greaney, A. M., Yu, S., Chavan, A. R., El-Naccache, D. W., Manning, E. P., Sharma, L., Dela Cruz, C. S., Medzhitov, R.

Advertisement

Stats

  • Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
  • Views 4
  • Comments 0

Recommended by

  • No recommendations yet.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Advertisement