FoxO3a and Lung Fibrosis

Dr. Henke and associates recent suggested that FoxO3a is largely inactive in IPF fibroblasts to promote IPF fibroblast proliferation. They previously demonstrated that lower Pten activity in IPF fibroblasts, higher PI3K-AKT activity on collagen matrix. In this study, the authors showed that phosphorylated, inactive, FoxO3 is higher, whereas total FoxO3 is lower, in IPF fibroblasts on collagen. They went on to show that p27 was lower in IPF.  They proposed model: 

Reference:
Nho RS, Hergert P, Kahm J, Jessurun J, Henke C. Pathological Alteration of
FoxO3a Activity Promotes Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Fibroblast Proliferation
on Type I Collagen Matrix. Am J Pathol. 2011 Sep 3. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 21893017.