Asthma Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Asthma, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, causes, medications.

Essential role of nitric oxide in VEGF-induced, asthma-like angiogenic, inflammatory, mucus, and physiologic responses in the lung.

Bhandari V, Choo-Wing R, Chapoval SP, Lee CG, Tang C, Kim YK, Ma B, Baluk P, Lin MI, McDonald DM, Homer RJ, Sessa WC, Elias JA

Division of Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, LCI 401-B, New Haven, CT 06520-8057, USA.

VEGF, nitric oxide (NO), inflammation, and vascular- and extravascular remodeling coexist in asthma and other disorders. In these responses, VEGF regulates angiogenesis. VEGF also induces inflammation and remodeling. The mechanisms of the latter responses have not been defined, however. We hypothesized that VEGF-induces extravascular tissue responses via NO-dependent mechanisms. To evaluate this hypothesis, we compared the effects of transgenic VEGF165 in lungs from normal mice, mice treated with pan-NO synthase (NOS) or endothelial NOS (eNOS) inhibitors, and mice with null mutations of inducible NOS (iNOS) or eNOS. These studies demonstrate that VEGF selectively stimulates eNOS and iNOS. They also demonstrate that VEGF induces pulmonary alterations via NO-dependent and -independent mechanisms with angiogenesis, edema, mucus metaplasia, airway hyperresponsiveness, lymphocyte accumulation, dendritic cell hyperplasia and S-nitrosoglutathione reductase stimulation being NO-dependent and dendritic cell activation being NO-independent. Furthermore, they demonstrate that eNOS and iNOS both contribute to these responses. NO/NOS-based interventions may be therapeutic in VEGF-driven inflammation and remodeling.

Published 19 July 2006 in Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 103(29): 11021-6.
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