Research progress of targeted pulmonary vascular endothelial dysfunction in treatment of pulmonary hypertension / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive and fatal disease. The dysfunction of pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) is one of its important pathogenic factors. PAECs are monolayer flat epithelial cells, which play an important role in maintaining pulmonary vascular homeostasis. Studies have found that PAECs show damage and apoptosis at the early stage of PH development, while PAECs show anti-apoptotic characteristics at the late stage of PH development. The transition of PAECs into mesenchymal cells induced by hypoxic and inflammatory factors is also involved in the pathogenesis of PH. Carcinoid metabolism and mitochondrial dysfunction, bone mor- phogenic type 2 receptor mutation, epigenetic changes and inflammation of PAECs are the main pathogenesis of pulmonary vascular endothelial dysfunction in PH patients. New therapeutic measures targeting PAECs dysfunction are expected to play an important role in the treatment of PH in the future.