Publications by authors named "Stuart W A Pearce"
Causal Role for Neutrophil Elastase in Thoracic Aortic Dissection in Mice.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol
October 2023
Article Synopsis
- Thoracic aortic dissection (TAD) is a serious condition with no effective treatments, and this study investigates the role of neutrophil elastase (NE) in its development.
- Researchers used animal models and various techniques to demonstrate that NE activity is elevated in TAD and that removing or inhibiting NE can prevent or reduce TAD formation.
- The study identified TBL1x as a key target of NE, revealing its involvement in inflammatory processes and smooth muscle cell changes that contribute to TAD pathology.
Matrix Metalloproteinase in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm and Aortic Dissection.
Pharmaceuticals (Basel)
August 2019
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) affects 4-5% of men over 65, and Aortic Dissection (AD) is a life-threatening aortic pathology associated with high morbidity and mortality. Initiators of AAA and AD include smoking and arterial hypertension, whilst key pathophysiological features of AAA and AD include chronic inflammation, hypoxia, and large modifications to the extra cellular matrix (ECM). As it stands, only surgical methods are available for preventing aortic rupture in patients, which often presents difficulties for recovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring atherosclerosis, the gradual accumulation of lipids into the subendothelial space of damaged arteries results in several lipid modification processes followed by macrophage uptake in the arterial wall. The way in which these modified lipoproteins are dealt with determines the likelihood of cholesterol accumulation within the monocyte-derived macrophage and thus its transformation into the foam cell that makes up the characteristic fatty streak observed in the early stages of atherosclerosis. The unique expression of chemokine receptors and cellular adhesion molecules expressed on the cell surface of monocytes points to a particular extravasation route that they can take to gain entry into atherosclerotic site, in order to undergo differentiation into the phagocytic macrophage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: To investigate whether neutrophil elastase (NE) plays a causal role in atherosclerosis, and the molecular mechanisms involved.
Methods And Results: NE genetic-deficient mice (Apolipoprotein E/NE mice), bone marrow transplantation, and a specific NE inhibitor (GW311616A) were employed in this study to establish the causal role of NE in atherosclerosis. Aortic expression of NE mRNA and plasma NE activity was significantly increased in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed wild-type (WT) (Apolipoprotein E) mice but, as expected, not in NE-deficient mice.