Effects of TNF-alpha blockade in monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension.
BACKGROUND
TNF-alpha blockade in ischemic heart failure is still the subject of debate since clinical trials show conflicting results. However, its benefit in heart failure secondary to pulmonary hypertension has yet to be determined. It has been reported that transgenic rats overexpressing TNF-alpha develop pulmonary hypertension. The aim of this study was to assess the morphologic and hemodynamic effects of administration of an anti-TNF-alpha monoclonal antibody (etanercept) in rats with monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension.


METHODS
Adult Wistar rats were injected with MCT (60 mg/Kg sc), or vehicle only (day 0). Beginning one day later, the animals were randomly treated with etanercept (ETC, 0.03 mg/Kg sc, three times a week) or with a similar volume of vehicle. The study thus had four groups: Ctrl (n = 6), Ctrl + ETC (n = 6), MCT (n = 6) and MCT + ETC (n = 6). On days 22-23, the rats were instrumented to record right ventricular systolic and end-diastolic pressures, dP/dtmax and tau. At the end of each experiment the heart and lungs were weighed.


CONCLUSIONS
Chronic administration of etanercept induced only a slight increase in relaxation velocity, with no effect on other hemodynamic parameters, including pulmonary hypertension, and no reduction in right ventricular hypertrophy. These results suggest that etanercept does not lead to a significant improvement in heart failure secondary to pulmonary hypertension.
Henriques-Coelho
T
T
Serviço de Fisiologia, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
Brandão-Nogueira
A
A
Moreira-Gonçalves
Daniel
D
Correia-Pinto
J
J
Leite-Moreira
A F
AF
D000818:Animals; D000068800:Etanercept; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017380:Hypertrophy, Right Ventricular / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D016686:Monocrotaline; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*
D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016686:Monocrotaline; D000068800:Etanercept