Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-HEART AND CIRCULATORY PHYSIOLOGY
Volume 294, Issue 2, Pages H570-H578Publisher
AMER PHYSIOLOGICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.01324.2007
Keywords
hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha; nuclear factor-activating T cells; voltage-gated potassium channels; fawn-hooded rats; mitochondrial fusion; pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase; lung cancer; reactive oxygen species; mitochondrial electron transport chain
Funding
- NHLBI NIH HHS [R01-HL-65322, HL-071115] Funding Source: Medline
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Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a lethal syndrome characterized by vascular obstruction and right ventricular failure. Although the fundamental cause remains elusive, many predisposing and disease-modifying abnormalities occur, including endothelial injury/dysfunction, bone morphogenetic protein receptor-2 gene mutations, decreased expression of the O-2-sensitive K+ channel (Kv1.5), transcription factor activation [hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) and nuclear factor-activating T cells], de novo expression of survivin, and increased expression/activity of both serotonin transporters and platelet-derived growth factor receptors. Together, these abnormalities create a cancerlike, proliferative, apoptosis-resistant phenotype in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). A possible unifying mechanism for PAH comes from studies of fawn-hooded rats, which manifest spontaneous PAH and impaired O-2 sensing. PASMC mitochondria normally produce reactive O-2 species (ROS) in proportion to Po-2. Superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) converts intramitochondrial superoxide to diffusible H2O2, which serves as a redox-signaling molecule, regulating pulmonary vascular tone and structure through effects on Kv1.5 and transcription factors. O-2 sensing is mediated by this mitochondria-ROS-HIF-1 alpha-Kv1.5 pathway. In PAH and cancer, mitochondrial metabolism and redox signaling are reversibly disordered, creating a pseudohypoxic redox state characterized by normoxic decreases in ROS, a shift from oxidative to glycolytic metabolism and HIF-1 alpha activation. Three newly recognized mitochondrial abnormalities disrupt the mitochondria-ROS-HIF-1 alpha-Kv1.5 pathway: 1) mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase activation, 2) SOD2 deficiency, and 3) fragmentation and/or hyperpolarization of the mitochondrial reticulum. The pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase inhibitor, dichloroacetate, corrects the mitochondrial abnormalities in experimental models of PAH and human cancer, causing a regression of both diseases. Mitochondrial abnormalities that disturb the ROS-HIF-1 alpha-Kv1.5 O-2-sensing pathway contribute to the pathogenesis of PAH and cancer and constitute promising therapeutic targets.
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