Delivery of Superoxide Dismutase 3 Gene with Baculoviruses Inhibits TNF-α Triggers Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation and Inflammation.

Background: Superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD3), recognized as a potent free radical scavenger, exhibits antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-angiogenic properties. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the protective effects of SOD3 on the vascular smooth muscle cell during atherosclerosis remain unclear.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of the baculovirus expressing SOD3 gene delivery to vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and investigate whether the overexpression of SOD3 mitigates cell proliferation and migration induced by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α).

The Efficacy of Acupuncture Therapy in the Management of Dyspnea and Other Symptoms Associated with Heart Failure: A Consolidated Review of Trial Data.

Introduction: Acupuncture has been used for pain management for thousands of years. However, it is largely unclear whether this therapeutic approach can effectively reduce heart failure-associated symptoms, including dyspnea. The hypothesis posited in this study was that acupuncture does indeed aid in the management of such symptoms and was motivated by the following statistics that establish a requisite need for efficient management of dyspnea to improve patient outcomes with heart failure.

Does Patient-Applied Testosterone Replacement Therapy Pose Risk for Blood Pressure Elevation? Circadian Medicine Perspectives.

We reviewed medication package inserts, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports, and journal publications concerning the 10 nonbiosimilar patient-applied (PA) testosterone (T) replacement therapies (TRTs) for intraday serum T patterning and blood pressure (BP) effects. Blood T concentration is circadian rhythmic in young adult eugonadal males, being highest around awakening and lowest before bedtime. T level and 24 h variation are blunted in primary and secondary hypogonadism.

Transcriptional regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation, differentiation and senescence: Novel targets for therapy.

Vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) possess a unique cytoplasticity, regulated by transcriptional, translational and phenotypic transformation in response to a diverse range of extrinsic and intrinsic pathogenic factors. The mature, differentiated SMC phenotype is physiologically typified transcriptionally by expression of genes encoding "contractile" proteins, such as SMα-actin (ACTA2), SM-MHC (myosin-11) and SM22α (transgelin). When exposed to various pathological conditions (e.

Circadian rhythms of risk factors and management in atherosclerotic and hypertensive vascular disease: Modern chronobiological perspectives of an ancient disease.

Atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the arteries that appears to have been as prevalent in ancient as in modern civilizations, is predisposing to life-threatening and life-ending cardiac and vascular complications, such as myocardial and cerebral infarctions. The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis involves intima plaque buildup caused by vascular endothelial dysfunction, cholesterol deposition, smooth muscle proliferation, inflammatory cell infiltration and connective tissue accumulation. Hypertension is an independent and controllable risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Pharmacogenomics and circadian rhythms as mediators of cardiovascular drug-drug interactions.

This article summarizes the current literature and documents new evidence concerning drug-drug interactions (DDI) stemming from pharmacogenomic and circadian rhythm determinants of therapies used to treat common cardiovascular diseases (CVD), such as atherosclerosis and hypertension. Patients with CVD often have more than one pathophysiologic condition, namely metabolic syndromes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia, among others, which necessitate polytherapeutic or polypharmaceutic management. Interactions between drugs, drugs and food/food supplements, or drugs and genetic/epigenetic factors may have adverse impacts on the cardiovascular and other systems of the body.

Telomerase/myocardin expressing mesenchymal cells induce survival and cardiovascular markers in cardiac stromal cells undergoing ischaemia/reperfusion.

Cardiac stromal cells (CSCs) contain a pool of cells with supportive and paracrine functions. Various types of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) can influence CSCs in the cardiac niche through their paracrine activity. Ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) leads to cell death and reduction of the paracrine activity of CSCs.

Pre-existing Health Conditions and Epicardial Adipose Tissue Volume: Potential Risk Factors for Myocardial Injury in COVID-19 Patients.

Myocardial injury is a life-threatening complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Pre-existing health conditions and early morphological alterations may precipitate cardiac injury and dysfunction after contracting the virus. The current study aimed at assessing potential risk factors for COVID-19 cardiac complications in patients with pre-existing conditions and imaging predictors.

The influence of pre-existing hypertension on coronavirus disease 2019 patients.

Hypertension represents one of the most common pre-existing conditions and comorbidities in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. To explore whether hypertension serves as a risk factor for disease severity, a multi-centre, retrospective study was conducted in COVID-19 patients. A total of 498 consecutively hospitalised patients with lab-confirmed COVID-19 in China were enrolled in this cohort.

Guidelines for the design and conduct of human clinical trials on ingestion-time differences - chronopharmacology and chronotherapy - of hypertension medications.

Current hypertension guidelines fail to provide a recommendation on when-to-treat, thus disregarding relevant circadian rhythms that regulate blood pressure (BP) level and 24 h patterning and medication pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The ideal purpose of ingestion-time (chronopharmacology, i.e.

Chronotherapy of cardiac and vascular disease: timing medications to circadian rhythms to optimize treatment effects and outcomes.

Circadian rhythms impact cardiac and vascular pathophysiology, resulting in 24-hour patterning of symptoms and life-threatening/ending events (chronopathology), plus kinetics and dynamics of medications (chronopharmacology), resulting in administration-time differences in efficacy and safety. Scheduling medications according to circadian rhythm determinants (chronotherapy) can improve treatment effects, for example, before dinner/bedtime ingestion of cholesterol-lowering medications and acetylsalicylic acid, respectively, exerts enhanced control of hypercholesterolemia and after-awakening peak of platelet aggregation; bedtime ingestion of conventional hypertension medications optimizes normalization of sleep-time blood pressure (BP)-strongest independent BP marker of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk-and most effectively prevents (chronoprevention) CVD morbidity and mortality. Exploration of chronotherapeutic strategies to improve management of cardiac arrhythmias and vascular pathophysiology is still awaited.

Transplantation of telomerase/myocardin-co-expressing mesenchymal cells in the mouse promotes myocardial revascularization and tissue repair.

Aim: Cell therapies are hampered by poor survival and growth of grafts. We tested whether forced co-expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and myocardin (MYOCD) improves post-infarct revascularization and tissue repair by adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (AT-MSCs).

Methods And Results: We transplanted AT-MSCs overexpressing MYOCD and TERT in a murine model of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

The GSK-3β-FBXL21 Axis Contributes to Circadian TCAP Degradation and Skeletal Muscle Function.

FBXL21 is a clock-controlled E3 ligase modulating circadian periodicity via subcellular-specific CRYPTOCHROME degradation. How FBXL21 regulates tissue-specific circadian physiology and what mechanism operates upstream is poorly understood. Here we report the sarcomere component TCAP as a cytoplasmic substrate of FBXL21.

Pathogenesis and management of myocardial injury in coronavirus disease 2019.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, has become a major health crisis and a worldwide pandemic. COVID-19 is characterized by high infectivity, long incubation period, diverse clinical presentations, and strong transmission intensity. COVID-19 can cause myocardial injury as well as other cardiovascular complications, particularly in senior patients with pre-existing medical conditions.

Strengthening effects of bone marrow mononuclear cells with intensive atorvastatin in acute myocardial infarction.

Objective: To test whether intensive atorvastatin (ATV) increases the efficacy of transplantation with autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells (MNCs) in patients suffering from anterior ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Methods: This clinical trial was under a 2×2 factorial design, enrolling 100 STEMI patients, randomly into four groups of regular (RA) or intensive ATV (IA) with MNCs or placebo. The primary endpoint was the change of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at 1-year follow-up from baseline, primarily assessed by MRI.

Estrogen inhibits vascular calcification in rats via hypoxia-induced factor-1α signaling.

Objective: Calcification serves as a surrogate for atherosclerosis-associated vascular diseases, and coronary artery calcification is mediated by multiple pathogenic factors. Estrogen is a known factor that protects the arterial wall against atherosclerosis, but its role in the coronary artery calcification development remains largely unclear. This study tested the hypothesis that estrogen inhibits coronary artery calcification via the hypoxia-induced factor-1α pathway.

Differential expression of microRNA and arachidonic acid metabolism in aspirin-treated human cardiac and peri-cardiac fat-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Aspirin is a widely used drug with anti-coagulating and anti-inflammatory effects on atherosclerotic vascular disease. The goal of this study was to investigate expression of microRNA (miR) in association with changes in arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism in cardiac and surrounding fat mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) treated with or without aspirin. Aspirin-targeted endogenous lipid metabolites that impact specific miRNA expression were examined by mass spectrometry.

Co-expression of glycosylated aquaporin-1 and transcription factor NFAT5 contributes to aortic stiffness in diabetic and atherosclerosis-prone mice.

Increased stiffness characterizes the early change in the arterial wall with subclinical atherosclerosis. Proteins inducing arterial stiffness in diabetes and hypercholesterolaemia are largely unknown. This study aimed at determining the pattern of protein expression in stiffening aorta of diabetic and hypercholesterolaemic mice.

Transplantation efficacy of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells combined with atorvastatin for acute myocardial infarction (TEAM-AMI): rationale and design of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center, Phase II TEAM-AMI trial.

To determine the efficacy and safety of intracoronary infusion of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in combination with intensive atorvastatin (ATV) treatment for patients with anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction-elevation myocardial infarction. The trial enrolls a total of 100 patients with anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction. The subjects are randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) to receive routine ATV (20 mg/d) with placebo or MSCs and intensive ATV (80 mg/d) with placebo or MSCs.

Oral delivery of xenon for cardiovascular protection.

Cardiac hypertrophy often causes impairment of cardiac function. Xenon (Xe), a naturally occurring noble gas, is known to provide neurological and myocardial protection without side effects. The conventional method of Xe delivery by inhalation is not feasible on a chronic basis.

Combined therapy with atorvastatin and atorvastatin-pretreated mesenchymal stem cells enhances cardiac performance after acute myocardial infarction by activating SDF-1/CXCR4 axis.

The SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling plays a critical role in the trafficking of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to the sites of tissue damage. Our recent study demonstrated that atorvastatin (ATV) treatment improved the survival of MSCs, and ATV pretreated MSCs (MSCs) exhibited enhanced engraftment to injured myocardium. In this study, we investigated whether combined treatment with ATV and MSCs enhances cardiac repair and regeneration by activating SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling in a rat model of acute myocardial infarction.

Attenuation of Cardiac Ischaemia-reperfusion Injury by Treatment with Hydrogen-rich Water.

Background: Hydrogen has been shown to exert a bioactive effect on the myocardium. This study examined the signalling pathways for hydrogen attenuating ischaemia-reperfusion injury.

Methods: In total, 20 male Wistar rats were evaluated for the effects of hydrogen-rich water on ischaemia-reperfusion in hearts.