Abstract 14372: Identification of the Genes That Are Involved in Severe Pulmonary Hypertension in Type 2 Diabetic Mice

Abstract

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive disease characterized by increased pulmonary vascular resistance. Increasing evidence shows that diabetes increases the risks of PH, and diabetic priming leads to severe PH. However, the molecular mechanism by which preconditioning of diabetes results in severe PH is still unknown. It has been shown that endothelium serves as a key regulator of vascular tone, and endothelial cell dysfunction is implicated in the development of PH and diabetes-related vascular complications. Therefore, we identified the genes that contribute to the development of severe PH in diabetic mice with a focus on endothelial function. We first determined the effect of chronic hypoxia (10% O 2 , 4 weeks) on hemodynamics in type 2 diabetic (T2D) mice. We used inducible T2D mice (generated by high-fat diet and a low-dose streptozotocin injection) and spontaneous T2D mice (TALLYHO/Jng). Diabetic mice exhibited a slight increase in right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP), and chronic hypoxia led to a further rise in RVSP in both inducible and spontaneous T2D mice. We isolated pulmonary endothelial cells (MPEC) from normoxia-exposed control mice (CN), hypoxia-exposed control mice (CH), normoxia-exposed diabetic mice (DN), and hypoxia-exposed diabetic mice (DH) to examine the levels of 92 genes using real-time PCR. Nighty two genes were selected based on their functions, which are significantly related to endothelial function. We found that 27 genes were significantly changed among 4 groups. We then examined the protein levels of genes that were related to apoptosis and glycolysis. Western Blot data indicated that the protein level of GAPDH was significantly increased in CH and DH compared to CN and DN. In addition, hypoxic exposure in diabetic mice (DH) significantly increased HK2 protein level compare to hypoxia-exposed control mice (CH). These data suggest that precondition of diabetes increases susceptibility to developing PH due partly to altering gene expression of HK2 and Gapdh in MPECs. Since HK2 and GAPDH are a crucial regulator of glycolysis, alteration of glycolysis is expected in hypoxia-exposed diabetic mice. Our study revealed the key molecules which could be used for treating severe PH in diabetes.