Targeting Vascular Remodeling to Treat Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Abstract

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) describes a group of conditions with a common hemodynamic phenotype of increased pulmonary artery pressure, driven by progressive remodeling of small pulmonary arteries, leading to right heart failure and death. Vascular remodeling is the key pathological feature of PAH, but treatments targeting this process are lacking. In this review, we summarize important advances in our understanding of PAH pathogenesis from novel genetic and epigenetic factors, to cell metabolism and DNA damage. We show how these processes may integrate and highlight exploitable targets that could alter the relentless vascular remodeling in PAH.

Keywords: BMPR2; hypoxia; miRNA; pulmonary hypertension; vascular remodeling.