The pathogenesis of bone marrow-derived progenitor cells in the novel preclinical PAH model

尽管循环中的骨髓源性内皮祖细胞(BM-EPC)在肺动脉高压(PAH)患者中有增加的报道，但在血管内膜和丛状病变等增生性病变中的表达尚不清楚。本研究的目的是研究EPC在PAH大鼠模型中的表达，该模型模拟人类PAH(Abe K循环2010)的闭塞性病变形成。在该模型中，包括c-kit在内的EPC相关标记物在早期闭塞病变周围高度表达。提示EPC可能参与了PAH这些病变的发生发展过程。

Although circulating bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (BM-EPC) were reported to increase in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), it remains unclear in the proliferative lesions such as intimal and plexiform lesions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the expression of EPC in PAH rat model, mimicking the occlusive lesion formation like human PAH (Abe K. Circulation 2010).Pulmonary hypertension (right ventricular systolic pressure ~100 mmHg) and severe pulmonary arteriopathy, including concentric neointimal and complex plexiform-like lesions were developed. EPC-associated markers including c-kit were highly expressed around the early occlusive lesion formations in this model. It suggested that EPC probably could be involved in the development of these lesions in PAH.