Abstract
Carbon monoxide (CO), one of the products of heme oxygenase action on heme, prevents arteriosclerotic lesions that occur following aorta transplantation; pre-exposure to 250 parts per million of CO for 1 hour before injury suppresses stenosis after carotid balloon injury in rats as well as in mice. The protective effect of CO is associated with a profound inhibition of graft leukocyte infiltration/activation as well as with inhibition of smooth muscle cell proliferation. The anti-proliferative effect of CO in vitro requires the activation of guanylate cyclase, the generation of cGMP, the activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases and the expression of the cell cycle inhibitor p21Cip1. These findings demonstrate a protective role for CO in vascular injury and support its use as a therapeutic agent.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant from the Roche Organ Transplantation Research Foundation (ROTRF; 998521355) awarded to M.P.S.; an Atorvastatin Research Award (AHA) sponsored by Pfizer awarded to M.P.S.; NIH grants HL67040 (M.P.S.), HL58688 (F.H.B.), HL53458 (A.U.), HL60234 (A.M.K.C.), HL5785405 (E.T.); American Heart Association grants 9740246N (A.M.K.C.) and 0160332U (L.E.O.); an AHA sponsored by Pfizer and awarded to L.E.O.; and an Ethicon-Society of University Surgeons Resident Research Award (awarded to B.S.Z.). M.H. was partially supported by a fellowship grant awarded by the Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST). F.H.B. is the Lewis Thomas Professor at the Harvard Medical School and is a paid consultant for Novartis Pharma.
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Otterbein, L., Zuckerbraun, B., Haga, M. et al. Carbon monoxide suppresses arteriosclerotic lesions associated with chronic graft rejection and with balloon injury. Nat Med 9, 183–190 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm817
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm817
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