Reactive Oxygen-Forming Nox5 Links Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotypic Switching and Extracellular Vesicle-Mediated Vascular Calcification.

Rationale: Vascular calcification, the formation of calcium phosphate crystals in the vessel wall, is mediated by vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive, precluding mechanism-based therapies.

Objective: Phenotypic switching denotes a loss of contractile proteins and an increase in migration and proliferation, whereby VSMCs are termed synthetic.

An ADAM33 polymorphism associates with progression of preschool wheeze into childhood asthma: a prospective case-control study with replication in a birth cohort study.

Background: The influence of asthma candidate genes on the development from wheeze to asthma in young children still needs to be defined.

Objective: To link genetic variants in asthma candidate genes to progression of wheeze to persistent wheeze into childhood asthma.

Materials And Methods: In a prospective study, children with recurrent wheeze from the ADEM (Asthma DEtection and Monitoring) study were followed until the age of six.

Protein kinase-D1 overexpression prevents lipid-induced cardiac insulin resistance.

In the insulin resistant heart, energy fuel selection shifts away from glucose utilization towards almost complete dependence on long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). This shift results in excessive cardiac lipid accumulation and eventually heart failure. Lipid-induced cardiomyopathy may be averted by strategies that increase glucose uptake without elevating LCFA uptake.

Integrative genomic analysis identifies a role for intercellular adhesion molecule 1 in childhood asthma.

Background: Childhood asthma is characterized by chronic airway inflammation. Integrative genomic analysis of airway inflammation on genetic and protein level may help to unravel mechanisms of childhood asthma. We aimed to employ an integrative genomic approach investigating inflammation markers on DNA, mRNA, and protein level at preschool age in relationship to asthma development.