American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Jun 2015
Elafin Reverses Pulmonary Hypertension via Caveolin-1 Dependent Bone Morphogenetic Protein Signaling.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension is characterized by endothelial dysfunction, impaired bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2 (BMPR2) signaling, and increased elastase activity. Synthetic elastase inhibitors reverse experimental pulmonary hypertension but cause hepatotoxicity in clinical studies. The endogenous elastase inhibitor elafin attenuates hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in mice, but its potential to improve endothelial function and BMPR2 signaling, and to reverse severe experimental pulmonary hypertension or vascular pathology in the human disease was unknown. ⋯ Elafin reverses obliterative changes in pulmonary arteries via elastase inhibition and caveolin-1-dependent amplification of BMPR2 signaling.
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Sepsis and acute kidney injury (AKI) represent an important burden in intensive care unit clinical practices. The Journal published important contributions in sepsis for novel therapeutic approaches suggesting that combined molecular targets (e.g., dual inhibition of IL-1β and IL-18, and coadministration of endothelial progenitor cells and stromal cell-derived factor-1α analog) could perform better. The clinical effectiveness of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D was reported in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. ⋯ Postdischarge survival represents a new target for future research in sepsis and AKI to find how we can prevent and manage long-term sequelae. A milestone of the year was the Ebola outbreak. The Journal contributed to our better understanding of Ebola virus disease with a paper underlying the crucial role of a large implementation of pragmatic supportive care, including fluid infusion and correction of metabolic abnormalities, to save more lives.