Researchers discover new therapy for atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis, a disease in which the inside of an artery narrows due to the build of plaque, can result in coronary artery disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease, or kidney problems depending on the arteries which are affected.
At present, coronary artery disease can be effectively cured via stent implantation. However, this therapy may well induce the abnormal growing thickness of vascular intima, thereby causing the recurrence of cardiovascular cases. Thus, it is of immense significance to find a new therapy target and improve the current treatment.
MicroRNA-22 (miR-22) has recently been reported to play a regulatory role during vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) differentiation from stem cells, but little is known about its target genes and related pathways in mature VSMC phenotypic modulation or its clinical implication in neointima formation following vascular injury.
Research teams led by Professor ZHANG Li of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University and Professor XIAO Qingzhong at the Queen Mary University of London collaborated to conduct relevant study. Their research demonstrates that miR-22 and EVI1 are novel regulators of VSMC function specifically during neointima hyperplasia, offering a new therapeutic opportunity for treating vascular diseases.
They applied the wire-injury mouse model as well as local delivery of AgomiR-22 or miR-22 inhibitor to explore the therapeutic potential of miR-22 in vascular diseases. Furthermore, normal and diseased human femoral arteries were harvested and various in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro models of VSMC phenotype switching were conducted to examine miR-22 expression during VSMC phenotype switching. They found that miR-22 expression was significantly reduced, while MECP2 and EVI1 expression levels were dramatically increased. This inverse relationship between miR-22 and MECP2 and/or EVI1 was evident in both healthy and diseased human femoral arteries.
The relevant findings appeared on the December 15 issue of Circulation.
People
Professor
The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University