The role of β-catenin in pulmonary artery endothelial-mesenchymal transformation in rats with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

β-catenin and endothelial mesenchymal transformation play an important role in the formation of pulmonary hypertension. To explore the role of β-catenin in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), we first established a rat model of CTEPH by repeated autologous thromboembolization and then treated these rats with a β-catenin specific inhibitor, XAV939, for two or four weeks. We further examined the expression of β-catenin, α-SMA and CD31, mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), and histopathology in the pulmonary artery, and analyzed their correlation.

Analysis of PROC and PROS1 single nucleotide polymorphisms in a thrombophilia family.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in protein C (PROC) and protein S (PROS1) genes with deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in a thrombophilia family.

Methods: DNA were extracted from blood of participants. Five PROC SNPs and 11 PROS1 SNPs were selected from the Hapmap and 1000 Genomes databases.