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Zhang X, Yang Z, Su S, Nan X, Xie X, Li Z, Lu D. Kaempferol ameliorates pulmonary vascular remodeling in chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension rats via regulating Akt-GSK3β-cyclin axis. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2023; 466:116478. [PMID: 36940862 DOI: 10.1016/j.taap.2023.116478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Revised: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
Excessive proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) is considered a major contributor to elevated pulmonary vascular resistance and a key mechanism of vascular remodeling in hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension (HPH). Kaempferol is a natural flavonoid compound and can be derived from numerous common medicinal herbs and vegetables, which exhibit antiproliferative and proapoptotic properties, however, the effects of kaempferol on vascular remodeling in HPH remain unexplored. In this study, SD rats were placed in a hypobaric hypoxia chamber for four weeks to establish a pulmonary hypertension model and given either kaempferol or sildenafil (an inhibitor of PDE-5) during days 1-28, after which the hemodynamic parameter and pulmonary vascular morphometry were assessed. Furthermore, primary rat PASMCs were exposed to hypoxic conditions to generate a cell proliferation model, then incubated with either kaempferol or LY294002 (an inhibitor of PI3K). Immunoblotting and real-time quantitative PCR assessed the protein and mRNA expression levels in HPH rat lungs and PASMCs. We found that kaempferol reduced pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular remodeling, and alleviated right ventricular hypertrophy in HPH rats. The mechanistic analysis demonstrated that kaempferol reduced the protein levels of phosphorylation of Akt and GSK3β, leading to decreased expression of pro-proliferation (CDK2, CDK4, Cyclin D1, and PCNA) and anti-apoptotic related proteins (Bcl-2) and increased expression of pro-apoptosis proteins (Bax and cleaved caspase 3). These results collectively demonstrate that kaempferol ameliorates HPH in rats by inhibiting PASMC proliferation and pro-apoptosis via modulation of the Akt/GSK3β/CyclinD axis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaonan Zhang
- Research Center for High Altitude Medicine, Key Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine (Ministry of Education), Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine of Qinghai Province, Key Laboratory of Application and Foundation for High Altitude Medicine Research in Qinghai Province (Qinghai-Utah Joint Research Key Lab for High Altitude Medicine), Qinghai University, Xining 810001, China; Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital, Xining 810007, China
| | - Zhanting Yang
- Research Center for High Altitude Medicine, Key Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine (Ministry of Education), Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine of Qinghai Province, Key Laboratory of Application and Foundation for High Altitude Medicine Research in Qinghai Province (Qinghai-Utah Joint Research Key Lab for High Altitude Medicine), Qinghai University, Xining 810001, China
| | - Shanshan Su
- Xining Customs Technical Center, Key Laboratory of Food Safety Research in Qinghai Province, Qinghai, Xining 810003, China
| | - Xingmei Nan
- Research Center for High Altitude Medicine, Key Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine (Ministry of Education), Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine of Qinghai Province, Key Laboratory of Application and Foundation for High Altitude Medicine Research in Qinghai Province (Qinghai-Utah Joint Research Key Lab for High Altitude Medicine), Qinghai University, Xining 810001, China
| | - Xin Xie
- School of Ecological and Environmental Engineering, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
| | - Zhanqiang Li
- Research Center for High Altitude Medicine, Key Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine (Ministry of Education), Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine of Qinghai Province, Key Laboratory of Application and Foundation for High Altitude Medicine Research in Qinghai Province (Qinghai-Utah Joint Research Key Lab for High Altitude Medicine), Qinghai University, Xining 810001, China.
| | - Dianxiang Lu
- Research Center for High Altitude Medicine, Key Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine (Ministry of Education), Laboratory for High Altitude Medicine of Qinghai Province, Key Laboratory of Application and Foundation for High Altitude Medicine Research in Qinghai Province (Qinghai-Utah Joint Research Key Lab for High Altitude Medicine), Qinghai University, Xining 810001, China; Clinical Medical College & Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610086, China.
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Liu Y, Shi JZ, Jiang R, Liu SF, He YY, van der Vorst EPC, Weber C, Döring Y, Yan Y. Regulatory T Cell-Related Gene Indicators in Pulmonary Hypertension. Front Pharmacol 2022; 13:908783. [PMID: 35712711 PMCID: PMC9197497 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.908783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective: Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are critical immune modulators to maintain immune homeostasis and limit pulmonary hypertension (PH). This study was aimed to identify Treg-related genes (TRGs) in PH. Methods: The gene expression profile from lungs of PH patients was retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The abundance of Tregs was estimated by the xCell algorithm, the correlation of which with differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was performed. DEGs with a |Pearson correlation coefficient| >0.4 were identified as TRGs. Functional annotation and the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network were analyzed. A gene signature for 25 hub TRGs (TRGscore) was generated by a single sample scoring method to determine its accuracy to distinguish PH from control subjects. TRGs were validated in datasets of transcriptional profiling of PH cohorts and in lung tissues of experimental PH mice. Results: A total of 819 DEGs were identified in lungs of 58 PAH patients compared to that of 25 control subjects of dataset GSE117261. In total, 165 of all these DEGs were correlated with the abundance of Tregs and identified as TRGs, with 90 upregulated genes and 75 downregulated genes compared to that of control subjects. The upregulated TRGs were enriched in negative regulation of multiple pathways, such as cAMP-mediated signaling and I-kappaB kinase/NF-kappaB signaling, and regulated by multiple genes encoding transcriptional factors including HIF1A. Furthermore, 25 hub genes categorized into three clusters out of 165 TRGs were derived, and we identified 27 potential drugs targeting 10 hub TRGs. The TRGscore based on 25 hub TRGs was higher in PH patients and could distinguish PH from control subjects (all AUC >0.7). Among them, 10 genes including NCF2, MNDA/Ifi211, HCK, FGR, CSF3R, AQP9, S100A8, G6PD/G6pdx, PGD, and TXNRD1 were significantly reduced in lungs of severe PH patients of dataset GSE24988 as well as in lungs of hypoxic PH mice compared to corresponding controls. Conclusion: Our finding will shed some light on the Treg-associated therapeutic targets in the progression of PH and emphasize on TRGscore as a novel indicator for PH.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Liu
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Jun-Zhuo Shi
- School of Pharmacy, Henan University, Kaifeng, China.,College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
| | - Rong Jiang
- Department of Cardio-Pulmonary Circulation, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
| | - Shao-Fei Liu
- Institute of Physiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.,DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Yang-Yang He
- School of Pharmacy, Henan University, Kaifeng, China.,College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
| | - Emiel P C van der Vorst
- Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany.,DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Munich Heart Alliance, Munich, Germany.,Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,Institute for Molecular Cardiovascular Research (IMCAR), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,Department of Pathology, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Christian Weber
- Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany.,DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Munich Heart Alliance, Munich, Germany.,Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands.,Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany
| | - Yvonne Döring
- Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany.,DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Munich Heart Alliance, Munich, Germany.,Department of Angiology, Swiss Cardiovascular Center, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Yi Yan
- Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
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Bermudez T, Sammani S, Song JH, Hernon VR, Kempf CL, Garcia AN, Burt J, Hufford M, Camp SM, Cress AE, Desai AA, Natarajan V, Jacobson JR, Dudek SM, Cancio LC, Alvarez J, Rafikov R, Li Y, Zhang DD, Casanova NG, Bime C, Garcia JGN. eNAMPT neutralization reduces preclinical ARDS severity via rectified NFkB and Akt/mTORC2 signaling. Sci Rep 2022; 12:696. [PMID: 35027578 PMCID: PMC8758770 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-04444-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite encouraging preclinical data, therapies to reduce ARDS mortality remains a globally unmet need, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. We previously identified extracellular nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (eNAMPT) as a novel damage-associated molecular pattern protein (DAMP) via TLR4 ligation which regulates inflammatory cascade activation. eNAMPT is tightly linked to human ARDS by biomarker and genotyping studies in ARDS subjects. We now hypothesize that an eNAMPT-neutralizing mAb will significantly reduce the severity of ARDS lung inflammatory lung injury in diverse preclinical rat and porcine models. Sprague Dawley rats received eNAMPT mAb intravenously following exposure to intratracheal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or to a traumatic blast (125 kPa) but prior to initiation of ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) (4 h). Yucatan minipigs received intravenous eNAMPT mAb 2 h after initiation of septic shock and VILI (12 h). Each rat/porcine ARDS/VILI model was strongly associated with evidence of severe inflammatory lung injury with NFkB pathway activation and marked dysregulation of the Akt/mTORC2 signaling pathway. eNAMPT neutralization dramatically reduced inflammatory indices and the severity of lung injury in each rat/porcine ARDS/VILI model (~ 50% reduction) including reduction in serum lactate, and plasma levels of eNAMPT, IL-6, TNFα and Ang-2. The eNAMPT mAb further rectified NFkB pathway activation and preserved the Akt/mTORC2 signaling pathway. These results strongly support targeting the eNAMPT/TLR4 inflammatory pathway as a potential ARDS strategy to reduce inflammatory lung injury and ARDS mortality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tadeo Bermudez
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Saad Sammani
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Jin H Song
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Vivian Reyes Hernon
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Carrie L Kempf
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Alexander N Garcia
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Jessica Burt
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Matthew Hufford
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Sara M Camp
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Anne E Cress
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Ankit A Desai
- Department of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | | | - Jeffrey R Jacobson
- Department of Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Steven M Dudek
- Department of Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | - Julie Alvarez
- Institute of Surgical Research, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Ruslan Rafikov
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Yansong Li
- Institute of Surgical Research, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Donna D Zhang
- College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Nancy G Casanova
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Christian Bime
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Joe G N Garcia
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences, Tucson, AZ, USA.
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