Université de Fribourg

Inhibition of phosphoinositide 3-kinase γ attenuates inflammation, obesity, and cardiovascular risk factors

Wymann, Matthias P. ; Solinas, Giovanni

In: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2013, vol. 1280, p. 44-47

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase γ (PI3Kγ) plays a central role in inflammation, allergy, cardiovascular, and metabolic disease. Obesity is accompanied by chronic, low-grade inflammation. As PI3Kγ plays a major role in leukocyte recruitment, targeting of PI3Kγ has been considered to be a strategy for attenuating progression of obesity to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Indeed, PI3Kγ null...

Université de Fribourg

Endothelial-specific deletion of Connexin40 promotes atherosclerosis by increasing CD73-dependent leukocyte adhesion

Chadjichristos, C.E. ; Scheckenbach, K.E.L. ; Veen, T.A.B. van ; Richani Sarieddine, M.Z. ; Wit, C. de ; Yang, Zhihong ; Roth, I. ; Bacchetta, M. ; Viswambharan, Hema ; Foglia, B. ; Dudez, T. ; Kempen, M.J.A. van ; Coenjaerts, F.E.J. ; Miquerol, L. ; Deutsch, U. ; Jongsma, H.J. ; Chanson, M. ; Kwak, B.R.

In: Circulation, 2010, vol. 121, p. 123-131

Background— Endothelial dysfunction is the initiating event of atherosclerosis. The expression of connexin40 (Cx40), an endothelial gap junction protein, is decreased during atherogenesis. In the present report, we sought to determine whether Cx40 contributes to the development of the disease.Methods and Results— Mice with ubiquitous deletion of Cx40 are hypertensive, a risk factor for...

Université de Fribourg

Different vascular smooth muscle cell apoptosis in the human internal mammary artery and the saphenous vein: implications for bypass graft disease

Frischknecht, Karin ; Greutert, Helen ; Weisshaupt, Christian ; Kaspar, Mathias ; Yang, Zhihong ; Lüscher, Thomas F. ; Carrel, Thierry P. ; Tanner, Felix C.

In: Journal of Vascular Research, 2006, vol. 43, no. 4, p. 338-346

The remarkable patency of internal mammary artery (MA) grafts compared to saphenous vein (SV) grafts has been related to different biological properties of the two blood vessels. We examined whether proliferation and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from human coronary artery bypass vessels differ according to patency rates. Methods and Results: Proliferation rates to serum...

Université de Fribourg

Thrombin Stimulates Human Endothelial Arginase Enzymatic Activity via RhoA/ROCK Pathway

Ming, Xiu-Fen ; Barandier, Christine ; Viswambharan, Hema ; Kwak, Brenda R. ; Mach, François ; Mazzolai, Lucia ; Hayoz, Daniel ; Ruffieux, Jean ; Rusconi, Sandro ; Montani, Jean-Pierre ; Yang, Zhihong

In: Circulation, 2004, vol. 110, p. 3708-3714

Background— Arginase competes with endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) for the substrate L-arginine and decreases NO production. This study investigated regulatory mechanisms of arginase activity in endothelial cells and its role in atherosclerosis. Methods and Results— In human endothelial cells isolated from umbilical veins, thrombin concentration- and time-dependently stimulated...