Project description:Human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) is the causative agent of Kaposiâs sarcoma and is associated with the angioproliferative disorders primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and multicentric Castlemanâs disease (MCD). We have previously described evidence of HHV-8 infection within the pulmonary vasculature of patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH). We speculated that viral infection of the pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells could cause the angioproliferative phenotype characteristic of severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We now demonstrate the ability of HHV-8 to infect human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMVECs) in vitro, confirming both latent and lytic infection. HHV-8 infection of HPMVECs resulted in significant changes of gene expression including alterations of pathways integral to both cellular apoptosis and angiogenesis. This infection also results in alterations of genes integral to the bone morphogenic protein (BMP) pathway, including down regulation of bone morphogenic protein receptor 1a (BMPR1a) and bone morphogenic protein 4 (BMP4). Other genes previously implicated in the development of PAH are also altered in expression by HHV-8 infection. These include increased expression of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-1, MMP-2 and MMP-10. Lastly, cells infected with HHV-8 apoptosis resistant. Infection of pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells with human herepesvirus-8 results in alteration of the BMP pathway as well as an anti-apoptotic phenotype, consistent with the development of plexiform lesions characteristic of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Experiment Overall Design: ⢠Direct comparison of HHV8-infected and mock-infected human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells. Experiment Overall Design: ⢠Triplicate infection and mock infection samples were prepared. One hybridization per sample, 6 total hybridizations Experiment Overall Design: ⢠Single channel hybridization (no reference).
Project description:Physiological shear stress, produced by blood flow, homeostatically regulates the phenotype of pulmonary endothelial cells exerting anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombotic actions and maintaining normal barrier function. In the pulmonary circulation hypoxia, due to high altitude or diseases such as COPD, causes vasoconstriction, increased vascular resistance and pulmonary hypertension. Hypoxia-induced changes in endothelial function play a central role in the development of this pulmonary hypertension. However, the direct interactive effects of hypoxia and shear stress on the pulmonary endothelial phenotype have not been extensively studied. We cultured human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMEC) in normoxia or hypoxia while subjected to physiological shear stress or in static conditions. Unbiased proteomics was used to identify hypoxia-induced changes in protein expression. Using publicly available single cell RNA-seq datasets, differences in gene expression between the alveolar endothelial cells from COPD and healthy lungs were identified. 60 proteins were identified in HPMEC lysates whose expression changed in response to hypoxia in sheared but not in static conditions. mRNA for five of these (ERG, MCRIP1, EIF4A2, HSP90AA1 and DNAJA1) showed similar changes in the endothelial cells of COPD compared to healthy lungs. These data show that the proteomic responses of the pulmonary microvascular endothelium to hypoxia are significantly altered by shear stress and suggest that these differences are important in the development of hypoxic pulmonary vascular disease.
Project description:Human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) is the causative agent of Kaposi’s sarcoma and is associated with the angioproliferative disorders primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and multicentric Castleman’s disease (MCD). We have previously described evidence of HHV-8 infection within the pulmonary vasculature of patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH). We speculated that viral infection of the pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells could cause the angioproliferative phenotype characteristic of severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We now demonstrate the ability of HHV-8 to infect human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMVECs) in vitro, confirming both latent and lytic infection. HHV-8 infection of HPMVECs resulted in significant changes of gene expression including alterations of pathways integral to both cellular apoptosis and angiogenesis. This infection also results in alterations of genes integral to the bone morphogenic protein (BMP) pathway, including down regulation of bone morphogenic protein receptor 1a (BMPR1a) and bone morphogenic protein 4 (BMP4). Other genes previously implicated in the development of PAH are also altered in expression by HHV-8 infection. These include increased expression of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-1, MMP-2 and MMP-10. Lastly, cells infected with HHV-8 apoptosis resistant. Infection of pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells with human herepesvirus-8 results in alteration of the BMP pathway as well as an anti-apoptotic phenotype, consistent with the development of plexiform lesions characteristic of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Keywords: Viral infection of endothelial cells in culture
Project description:The aim of our study is to investigate and compare the effects of carbon and photon irradiation on microvascular endothelial cells. Therefore we irradiated human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMEC) with either 2Gy Carbon or 6Gy Photon (bioequivalent doses) and performed microarray analysis both 2 hours (short-term effect) and 6 days (long-term effects) after irradiation. All experiments were performed in 3 biological replicates.
Project description:Sickle cell disease is characterized by hemolysis, vaso-occlusion and ischemia reperfusion injury. These events cause endothelial dysfunction and vasculopathies in multiple systems However, the lack of atherosclerotic lesions has led to the idea that there are adaptive mechanisms that protect the endothelium from major vascular insults in SCD patients. The molecular bases for this phenomenon are poorly defined. This study was designed to identify the global profile of genes induced by heme in the endothelium. Human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs), and human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) were grown to confluence, and treated with freshly prepared ferric heme every 48 hours for 7 days. Total RNA was extracted, used for microarray analysis, using an Affymetric U133 plus 2.0 chip
Project description:To investigate the effect of Mitomycin-C induced DNA damage on human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (hPMVECs), we treated the hPMVECs with 150µM MMC for 0h, 4h, and 14. Saline was used as vehicle. We then performed RNA expression profile analysis using data obtained from RNA-seq of time dependendent MMC treated PMVECs.