Targeted activation of endothelin-1 exacerbates hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease that eventually results in right heart failure and death. Current pharmacologic therapies for PAH are limited, and there are no drugs that could completely cure PAH. Enhanced activity of endothelin system has been implicated in PAH severity and endothelin receptor antagonists have been used clinically to treat PAH. However, there is limited experimental evidence on the direct role of enhanced endothelin system activity in PAH. Here, we investigated the correlation between endothelin-1 (ET-1) and PAH using ET-1 transgenic (ETTG) mice. Exposure to chronic hypoxia increased right ventricular pressure and pulmonary arterial wall thickness in ETTG mice compared to those in wild type mice. Of note, ETTG mice exhibited modest but significant increase in right ventricular pressure and vessel wall thickness relative to wild type mice even under normoxic conditions. To induce severe PAH, we administered SU5416, a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibitor, combined with exposure to chronic hypoxia. Treatment with SU5416 modestly aggravated hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension, right ventricular hypertrophy, and pulmonary arterial vessel wall thickening in ETTG mice in association with increased interleukin-6 expression in blood vessels. However, there was no sign of obliterative endothelial cell proliferation and plexiform lesion formation in the lungs. These results demonstrated that enhanced endothelin system activity could be a causative factor in the development of PAH and provided rationale for the inhibition of endothelin system to treat PAH.
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
Muhammad Gahan
MG
Satwiko
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Kobe Pharmaceutical University, Kobe, Japan.
Koji
K
Ikeda
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
Kazuhiko
K
Nakayama
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Kobe Pharmaceutical University, Kobe, Japan.
Keiko
K
Yagi
Institute for Nutritional Science, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
Berthold
B
Hocher
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
Ken-ichi
K
Hirata
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan; Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Kobe Pharmaceutical University, Kobe, Japan. Electronic address: emoto@med.kobe-u.ac.jp.
Noriaki
N
Emoto
D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000378:metabolism*
D015415:Biomarkers; D019332:Endothelin-1
Endothelin; Hypoxia; Pulmonary arterial hypertension; SU5416