Endothelial cell senescence exacerbates pulmonary hypertension by inducing juxtacrine Notch signaling in smooth muscle cells
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease characterized by a progressive increase in pulmonary artery pressure caused by pathological pulmonary artery remodeling. Here, we show that endothelial cell (EC) senescence plays a negative role in pulmonary hypertension via juxtacrine interaction with smooth muscle cells (SMCs). By using EC-specific progeroid mice that we recently generated, we discovered that EC progeria deteriorated vascular remodeling in the lungs, and exacerbated pulmonary hypertension in mice exposed to chronic hypoxia. Mechanistically, senescent ECs overexpressed Notch ligands, which resulted in increased Notch signaling and activated proliferation and migration capacities in neighboring SMCs. Pharmacological inhibition of Notch signaling reduced the effects of senescent ECs on SMCs functions in vitro, and improved the worsened pulmonary hypertension in EC-specific progeroid mice in vivo. Our findings show that EC senescence is a critical disease-modifying factor in PAH and that EC-mediated Notch signaling is a pharmacotherapeutic target for the treatment of PAH, particularly in the elderly. Overall design: single nucleus RNA sequencing was used to profile mouse lung