A new signalling pathway involved in pulmonary arterial hypertension

Carbon monoxide modulation of T-type calcium channels: a novel signalling pathway to exploit for the treatment of  pulmonary hypertension (Ms Emily Woodhouse)

Supervised by Professor Chris Peers, a PhD student is investigating a new molecular mechanism involved in the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and testing ways to prevent PAH developing. PAH is a life-threatening disease where the pressure inside lung blood vessels, the pulmonary arteries, becomes dangerously high. A key feature of the disease is that muscle cells in the vessel walls multiply, which causes blood vessel walls to thicken, restricting blood flow and raising blood pressure. Professor Peers’ team have discovered a signalling pathway within these muscle cells which controls the rate at which cell numbers grow. The amounts of an enzyme called heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) go up in PAH, and this generates cell signals that ultimately determine how quickly muscle cells multiply. The team believes that drugs which interrupt this pathway could help to control cell numbers and prevent the thickening of blood vessel walls. The PhD student will investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in the process of HO-1 signalling. The researchers will also use different experimental approaches to test if interrupting this signalling pathway can stop lung blood vessel muscle cells from increasing in number and causing PAH. This research could contribute to the development of a new treatment approach for PAH.