The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib inhibits intimal hyperplasia of autologous vein grafting in rat model.
OBJECTIVE
Increasing evidence indicates that inflammation plays an important role in intimal hyperplasia (IH) induced by autologous vein grafts. The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib shows anti-inflammatory effects, so we used an autologous vein transplantation model to test whether bortezomib inhibits neointimal formation in transplant-induced vasculopathy.


METHODS
We subjected 88 rats to autologous external jugular vein grafting surgery randomly assigned to be treated with bortezomib or vehicle. After 24 or 72 hours, rats were humanely killed and vein grafts processed for real-time RT-PCR (24 and 72 hours), ELISA (24 hours), or neutrophil chemotaxis assay (24 hours). Subsequently, rats were humanely killed at 1 and 2 weeks after grafting with samples processed for morphometric analysis.


RESULTS
Bortezomib significantly inhibited IH at 2 weeks compared with untreated controls (P < .05). Expression of mRNA for vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant 2beta, monocyte chemoattractant-1, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha markedly increased in injured vessels during the first day after surgery declining over the following 3 days. Bortezomib significantly attenuated gene expression and protein levels of most inflammatory mediators (P < .05), simultaneously inhibiting neutrophil chemotactic activity of vessel homogenates.


CONCLUSIONS
Bortezomib inhibited neointimal formation at least partially by attenuating the inflammatory response in transplant-induced vasculopathy. It may become a novel vasoprotective agent in the clinical field.
He
X P
XP
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Qi Lu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China.
Li
X X
XX
Bi
Y W
YW
Yue
W M
WM
Sun
W Y
WY
Pang
X Y
XY
Gu
X H
XH
D000818:Animals; D001897:Boronic Acids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000069286:Bortezomib; D017931:DNA Primers; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D006965:Hyperplasia / Q000517:prevention & control; D007378:Interleukins / Q000235:genetics; D007601:Jugular Veins / Q000637:transplantation*; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D011480:Protease Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011719:Pyrazines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*
D001897:Boronic Acids; D017931:DNA Primers; D007378:Interleukins; D011480:Protease Inhibitors; D011719:Pyrazines; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D000069286:Bortezomib