Abstract

Inflammatory cells are present in the lungs from patients with many, if not all, forms of severe pulmonary hypertension. Historically the first inflammatory cell identified in the pulmonary vascular lesions was the mast cell. T and B lymphocytes, as well as macrophages, are present in and around the pulmonary arterioles and many patients have elevated blood levels of interleukin 1 and 6; some patients show elevated levels of leukotriene B4. An overlap between collagen-vascular disease-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and idiopathic PAH exists, yet only a few studies have been designed that evaluate the effect of anti-inflammatory treatments. Here we review the pertinent data that connect PAH and inflammation/immune dysregulation and evaluate experimental models of severe PAH with an emphasis on the Sugen/athymic rat model of severe PAH. We postulate that there are more than one inflammatory phenotype and predict that there will be several anti-inflammatory treatment strategies for severe PAH.

View details for DOI 10.1080/14779072.2016.1180976

View details for PubMedID 27096622