Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 8, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15494
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Residencia Assistida da DelegacAo da Costa do Estoril da Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa
- American Thoracic Society Foundation/Pulmonary Hypertension Association Research Fellowship [K08HL105536, R03HL133306, R01HL135872]
- Gilead Sciences Research Scholars Program in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
- University of Colorado Department of Medicine Early Career Scholars Program [P01HL014985, R01HL080396, R01HL130938]
- NIH-NIAID [HHSN272201000005I]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Pulmonary arterial hypertension ( PAH) is an obstructive disease of the precapillary pulmonary arteries. Schistosomiasis-associated PAH shares altered vascular TGF-beta signalling with idiopathic, heritable and autoimmune-associated etiologies; moreover, TGF-b blockade can prevent experimental pulmonary hypertension ( PH) in pre-clinical models. TGF-b is regulated at the level of activation, but how TGF-beta is activated in this disease is unknown. Here we show TGF-beta activation by thrombospondin-1 ( TSP-1) is both required and sufficient for the development of PH in Schistosoma-exposed mice. Following Schistosoma exposure, TSP-1 levels in the lung increase, via recruitment of circulating monocytes, while TSP-1 inhibition or knockout bone marrow prevents TGF-beta activation and protects against PH development. TSP-1 blockade also prevents the PH in a second model, chronic hypoxia. Lastly, the plasma concentration of TSP-1 is significantly increased in subjects with scleroderma following PAH development. Targeting TSP-1-dependent activation of TGF-beta could thus be a therapeutic approach in TGF-beta-dependent vascular diseases.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available