Abstract

Bmpr2 mutations are critical risk factors for hereditary pulmonary arterial hypertension (hPAH) with approximately 20% of carriers developing disease. There is an unmet medical need to understand how environmental factors, such as inflammation, render Bmpr2 mutants susceptible to PAH. Overexpressing 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) provokes lung inflammation and transient PAH in Bmpr2+/- mice. Accordingly, 5-LO and its metabolite, leukotriene B4 (LTB4), are candidates for the 'second hit'. The purpose of this study was to determine how 5-LO-mediated pulmonary inflammation synergized with phenotypically-silent Bmpr2 defects to elicit significant pulmonary vascular disease in rats.Monoallelic Bmpr2 mutant rats were generated and found phenotypically normal for up to one year of observation. To evaluate whether a second hit would elicit disease, animals were exposed to 5-LO-expressing adenovirus (AdAlox5), monocrotaline, SU5416, SU5416 with chronic hypoxia or chronic hypoxia alone. Bmpr2-mutant hPAH patient samples were assessed for neointimal 5-LO expression. Pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) with impaired BMPR2 signaling were exposed to increased 5-LO-mediated inflammation and were assessed for phenotypic and transcriptomic changes.Lung inflammation, induced by intratracheal delivery of AdAlox5, elicited severe PAH with intimal remodeling in Bmpr2+/- rats but not in their wild-type littermates. Neointimal lesions in the diseased Bmpr2+/- rats gained endogenous 5-LO expression associated with elevated LTB4 biosynthesis. Bmpr2-mutant hPAH patients similarly expressed 5-LO in the neointimal cells. In vitro, BMPR2 deficiency, compounded by 5-LO-mediated inflammation, generated apoptosis-resistant, and proliferative PAECs with mesenchymal characteristics. These transformed cells expressed nuclear envelope-localized 5-LO consistent with induced LTB4 production, as well as a transcriptomic signature similar to clinical disease, including upregulated NF-?B, IL-6, and TGF-ß signaling pathways. The reversal of PAH and vasculopathy in Bmpr2 mutants by TGF-ß antagonism suggests that TGF-ß is critical for neointimal transformation.In a new 'two-hit' model of disease, lung inflammation induced severe PAH pathology in Bmpr2+/- rats. Endothelial transformation required the activation of canonical and noncanonical TGF-ß signaling pathways and was characterized by 5-LO nuclear envelope translocation with enhanced LTB4 production. This study offers one explanation of how an environmental injury unleashes the destructive potential of an otherwise-silent genetic mutation.

View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.040629

View details for PubMedID 31462075