Cowburn Andrew S, Crosby Alexi, Macias David, Branco Cristina, Colaço Renato D D R, Southwood Mark, Toshner Mark, Crotty Alexander Laura E, Morrell Nicholas W, Chilvers Edwin R, Johnson Randall S
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EG, United Kingdom; Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, United Kingdom;
Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, United Kingdom;
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Aug 2;113(31):8801-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1602978113. Epub 2016 Jul 18.
Hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction is correlated with pulmonary vascular remodeling. The hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIFs) HIF-1α and HIF-2α are known to contribute to the process of hypoxic pulmonary vascular remodeling; however, the specific role of pulmonary endothelial HIF expression in this process, and in the physiological process of vasoconstriction in response to hypoxia, remains unclear. Here we show that pulmonary endothelial HIF-2α is a critical regulator of hypoxia-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension. The rise in right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) normally observed following chronic hypoxic exposure was absent in mice with pulmonary endothelial HIF-2α deletion. The RVSP of mice lacking HIF-2α in pulmonary endothelium after exposure to hypoxia was not significantly different from normoxic WT mice and much lower than the RVSP values seen in WT littermate controls and mice with pulmonary endothelial deletion of HIF-1α exposed to hypoxia. Endothelial HIF-2α deletion also protected mice from hypoxia remodeling. Pulmonary endothelial deletion of arginase-1, a downstream target of HIF-2α, likewise attenuated many of the pathophysiological symptoms associated with hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. We propose a mechanism whereby chronic hypoxia enhances HIF-2α stability, which causes increased arginase expression and dysregulates normal vascular NO homeostasis. These data offer new insight into the role of pulmonary endothelial HIF-2α in regulating the pulmonary vascular response to hypoxia.
缺氧性肺血管收缩与肺血管重塑相关。已知缺氧诱导转录因子(HIFs)HIF-1α和HIF-2α参与缺氧性肺血管重塑过程;然而,肺内皮HIF表达在该过程以及对缺氧的血管收缩生理过程中的具体作用仍不清楚。在此我们表明,肺内皮HIF-2α是缺氧诱导的肺动脉高压的关键调节因子。在慢性缺氧暴露后通常观察到的右心室收缩压(RVSP)升高在肺内皮HIF-2α缺失的小鼠中未出现。暴露于缺氧后肺内皮缺乏HIF-2α的小鼠的RVSP与常氧野生型小鼠无显著差异,且远低于缺氧暴露的野生型同窝对照小鼠和肺内皮缺失HIF-1α的小鼠的RVSP值。内皮HIF-2α缺失也使小鼠免受缺氧重塑影响。肺内皮缺失HIF-2α的下游靶点精氨酸酶-1同样减轻了许多与缺氧性肺动脉高压相关的病理生理症状。我们提出一种机制,即慢性缺氧增强HIF-2α稳定性,这导致精氨酸酶表达增加并使正常血管一氧化氮稳态失调。这些数据为肺内皮HIF-2α在调节肺血管对缺氧反应中的作用提供了新的见解。