American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Jan 2018
Fetal and Infant Growth Patterns and Risk of Lower Lung Function and Asthma. The Generation R Study.
Children with lower birth weight are at increased risk of asthma symptoms. ⋯ Both restricted fetal weight growth, partly depending on infant weight growth, and accelerated fetal and infant weight growth predispose children to lower lung function and a potential risk for respiratory diseases later in life.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Jan 2018
Loss of SMAD3 Promotes Vascular Remodeling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension via MRTF Disinhibition.
Vascular remodeling in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) results from smooth muscle cell hypertrophy and proliferation of vascular cells. Loss of BMPR-II (bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2) signaling and increased signaling via TGF-β (transforming growth factor β) and its downstream mediators SMAD (small body size [a C. elegans protein] mothers against decapentaplegic [a Drosophila protein family])-2/3 has been proposed to drive lung vascular remodeling; yet, proteomic analyses indicate a loss of SMAD3 in PAH. ⋯ Loss of SMAD3 presents a novel pathomechanism in PAH that promotes vascular cell proliferation and-via MRTF disinhibition-hypertrophy of huPASMCs, thereby reconciling the parallel induction of a synthetic and contractile huPASMC phenotype.