TCF7 enhances pulmonary hypertension by boosting stressed natural killer cells and their interaction with pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a life-threatening cardio-pulmonary disorder. Whether natural killer (NK) cells could act as participants in PH and the mechanism by which NK cells moderate pulmonary vascular remodeling has not been fully elucidated.

Methods

Single-cell RNA sequencing data from lungs of human pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients and monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PH rat model were retrieved from GEO database or UCSC Cell Browser. Tcf7 conditional knockout mice and TCF7 overexpression following adeno-associated virus 6 (AAV6) intratracheal delivery in rats were generated. The NK92 cell line and primary human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (hPASMCs) were used for in vitro experiments.

Results

Stressed NK cells were much higher in l

SUBMITTER: Wu LW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12121176 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature