The Role of Bone Morphogenetic Proteins in the Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Hypertension

许多人的肺部血管出现问题，导致这些血管变窄，从而对心脏造成背压压力。这些疾病可由血管本身的遗传性疾病引起，或由获得性肺部疾病引起(例如，吸烟或慢性感染)。目前，对这些患者有任何益处的治疗方法很少，许多人必须接受肺或心肺移植。这个项目的设计既是为了找到关于影响肺血管的疾病过程的新信息，也是为了提供一种新的治疗策略。该项目将使用一种残缺的感冒病毒将基因输送到肺血管的内壁，然后观察这对血管内的压力有什么影响，以及它们对某些压力的反应方式。这些研究将使用实验室动物进行。如果成功，最终有可能设计出这样的病毒来传递对患者的疾病有帮助的治疗效果的基因。

Many people develop problems with the blood vessels in the lungs, which then leads to a narrowing of these vessels and consequently a back-pressure strain on the heart. These disorders can arise from inherited diseases of the blood vessels themselves, or from accquired lung disease (for example due to smoking or chronic infections). At present there are few treatments which have any benefits for these patients and many must undergo lung or heart-lung transplantation. This project is desigened both to find out new information about the disease process that affects the lung blood vessels and to offer a strategy for new treatments. The project will use a crippled form of the cold virus to deliver genes to the lining of the lung blood vessels, then see what impact that has on the pressure within the vessels and the ways in which they respond to certain stresses. These studies will be carried out using laboratory animals. If successful, it may be possible to eventually design such viruses to deliver genes which have a helpful therapeutic impact on the disease in patients.