Project description:Analysis of hypoxia-exposed human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells to identify the commonly regulated microRNAs by hypoxia. Results provide insight into the regulatory mechanism of hypoxic responses in vascular smooth muscle cells.
Project description:Analysis of hypoxia-exposed human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells to identify the commonly regulated genes by hypoxia. Results provide insight into the regulatory mechanism of hypoxic responses in vascular smooth muscle cells.
Project description:Analysis of exosomal microRNAs secreted by PDGF-stimulated human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. Results increase our understanding of exosome-mediated crosstalk between vascular cells under a pathological condition.
Project description:Pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells were either mock transfected, transfected with scramble control or transfected with pre-miR-143. After 24 hours the cells were harvested with Qiazol and processed for a microarray experiment. The experiment was performed in order to identify potential targets of miR-143.
Project description:Analysis of miRNAs associated with NCL via RNA immunoprecipitation in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells using NCL antibodies to identify a distinct set of miRNAs regulated by NCL. Results provide insight into the regulatory mechanism of RNA binding proteins in vascular smooth muscle cells.
Project description:Hypoxia provokes adaptive responses of cells, which ensure their energy supply including the adjustment of the transcriptome to match their metabolism. In this context, we explored the transcriptional impact of nuclear factor of activated T-cells 5 (NFAT5) on the function of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) in the hypoxic lung. Exposure to hypoxia induced a rapid nuclear translocation of NFAT5 in cultured murine VSMCs. SMC-specific ablation of Nfat5 (Nfat5(SMC-/-)) increases the systolic pressure in the right ventricle (RVSP) of the mouse heart and impairs its function upon exposure to hypoxia for 7 and 21 days. Analyses of the transcriptome of the lung revealed a robust increase in the expression genes attributed to mitochondrial respiration. Further analyses of hypoxia-exposed pulmonary artery VSMCs revealed that loss of Nfat5 stimulates the expression of multiple mitochondria-related genes encoding cytochrome oxidases while decreasing the expression of lactate dehydrogenase A (Ldha) and phosphofructokinase 3 (Pfkfb3). Both, inhibition of LDHA or PFKFB3 activity and loss of Nfat5 stimulated the mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in hypoxic pulmonary artery VSMCs while scavenging of ROS normalized the RVSP values in hypoxia-exposed Nfat5(SMC-/-) mice. In summary, our findings suggest a crucial role for NFAT5 in adjusting the transcriptome of hypoxia-exposed pulmonary artery VSMCs to support an adequate glycolysis-centered metabolism. Loss of Nfat5 impairs this response thereby fueling the mitochondrial respiration and ROS production that amplifies the hypoxia-mediated constriction of pulmonary arteries.