Deping Kong, Jing Liu, Junmi Lu, Cheng Zeng, Hao Chen, Zhenzhen Duan, Ke Yu, Xialei Zheng, Pu Zou, Liufang Zhou, Yicheng Lv, Qingye Zeng, Lin Lu, Jiang Li, Yuhu He
BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive and life-threatening disease characterized by pulmonary vascular remodeling, which involves aberrant proliferation and apoptosis resistance of the pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs), resembling the hallmark characteristics of cancer. In cancer, the HMGB2 (high-mobility group box 2) protein promotes the pro-proliferative/antiapoptotic phenotype. However, the function of HMGB2 in PH remains uninvestigated. METHODS: Smooth muscle cell (SMC)-specific HMGB2 knockout or HMGB2-OE (HMGB2 overexpression) mice and HMGB2 silenced rats were used to establish hypoxia+Su5416 (HySu)-induced PH mouse and monocrotaline-induced PH rat models, respectively...
April 4, 2024: Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology