Project description:Hypoxia can induce vasoconstriction followed by vascular remodeling including hypertrophy and hyperplasia of pulmonary vascular smooth muscle and proliferation of endothelial cells. The goal of this project is to elucidate the genes involved in vascular remodeling following pulmonary hypertension. Total RNA was isolated from lungs of normoxic and hypoxic treated animals. Keywords: other
Project description:We introduce a novel in vitro platform that could simulate key native pulmonary vascular phenotypes and functions, and shows the potential of using the bioengineered whole organ as a platform for disease modeling. Since it is becoming clear that vascular endothelium and the coagulation cascade are adversely affected in some COVID19 patients, such an engineered organ system may play an important role in dissecting disease mechanisms and treatments.
Project description:IL-4-mediated pro-inflammatory vascular responses have been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic cardiopulmonary diseases. Our results show that hypoxia-induced collagen synthesis and early recruitment of inflammatory cells are significantly less in the lungs of IL-4 knockout (KO) mice than in those of wild-type mice. In addition, we found that IL-4 significantly increased pro-inflammatory genes in primary pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells. This study was designed to identify the gene expression profile of IL-4-dependent pulmonary vascular inflammation induced by hypoxia.
Project description:Pulmonary hypertension worsens outcome in left heart disease. Stiffening of the pulmonary artery may drive this pathology by increasing right ventricular dysfunction and lung vascular remodeling. We showed that pulmonary arteries from patients with left heart disease are characterized by increased stiffness that correlates with impaired pulmonary hemodynamics. Pulmonary arteries in left heart disease patients with pulmonary hypertension were characterized by degradation of elastic fibers paralleled by an accumulation of fibrillar collagens. We utilized RNA sequencing to identify differentially expressed genes regulating extracellular matrix remodeling in pulmonary arteries of left heart disease patients with or without pulmonary hypertension, in comparison to healthy-heart donor controls. As such we identified that transcriptional deregulation of extracellular matrix constituents and their regulators precedes clinical pulmonary hypertension, and therefore might be a pathomechanism that drives pulmonary arterial remodeling and stiffening in left heart disease.
Project description:Pulmonary hypertension (PH), a common complication in dogs affected by degenerative mitral valve disease (DMVD), is a progressive disorder characterized by increased pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and pulmonary vascular remodeling. Early diagnosis of PH is crucial for effective management and improved clinical outcomes. This study aimed to identify potential serum biomarkers for diagnosing PH in dogs affected with DMVD using a phosphoproteomic approach.
Project description:	Pulmonary hypertension (PH), a common complication in dogs affected by degenerative mitral valve disease (DMVD), is a progressive disorder characterized by increased pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and pulmonary vascular remodeling. Early diagnosis of PH is crucial for effective management and improved clinical outcomes. This study aimed to identify potential serum biomarkers for diagnosing PH in dogs affected with DMVD using a phosphoproteomic approach.