Positional therapy appears to be a valuable form of therapy mainly for some older aged positional OSA patients.

Germline mutations involving small mothers against decapentaplegic-transforming growth factor-β (SMAD-TGF-β) signaling are an important but rare cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which is a disease characterized, in part, by vascular fibrosis and hyperaldosteronism (ALDO). Here, we developed and analyzed a fibrosis protein-protein network (fibrosome) in silico, which predicted that the SMAD3 target neural precursor cell expressed developmentally down-regulated 9 (NEDD9) is a critical ALDO-regulated node underpinning pathogenic vascular fibrosis. Bioinformatics and microscale thermophoresis demonstrated that oxidation of Cys18 in the SMAD3 docking region of NEDD9 impairs SMAD3-NEDD9 protein-protein interactions in vitro. This effect was reproduced by ALDO-induced oxidant stress in cultured human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAECs), resulting in impaired NEDD9 proteolytic degradation, increased NEDD9 complex formation with Nk2 homeobox 5 (NKX2–5), and increased NKX2–5 binding to COL3A1. Upregulation of NEDD9-dependent collagen III expression corresponded to changes in cell stiffness measured by atomic force microscopy. HPAEC-derived exosomal signaling targeted NEDD9 to increase collagen I/III expression in human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells, identifying a second endothelial mechanism regulating vascular fibrosis. ALDO-NEDD9 signaling was not affected by treatment with a TGF-β ligand trap, and, thus, was not contingent on TGF-β-signaling. Colocalization of NEDD9 with collagen III in HPAECs was observed in fibrotic pulmonary arterioles from PAH patients. Furthermore, NEDD9 ablation or inhibition prevented fibrotic vascular remodeling and pulmonary hypertension in animal models of PAH in vivo. These data identify a critical TGF-β-independent post-translational modification that impairs SMAD3-NEDD9 binding in HPAECs to modulate vascular fibrosis and promote PAH.

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Background The molecular mechanism(s) regulating hypoxia-induced vascular fibrosis are unresolved. Hyperaldosteronism correlates positively with vascular remodeling in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), suggesting that aldosterone may contribute to the pulmonary vasculopathy of hypoxia. The hypoxia-sensitive transcription factors c-Fos/c-Jun regulate steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), which facilitates the rate-limiting step of aldosterone steroidogenesis. We hypothesized that c-Fos/c-Jun upregulation by hypoxia activates StAR-dependent aldosterone synthesis in human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAECs) to promote vascular fibrosis in PAH. Methods and Results Patients with PAH, rats with Sugen/hypoxia-PAH, and mice exposed to chronic hypoxia expressed increased StAR in remodeled pulmonary arterioles, providing a basis for investigating hypoxia-StAR signaling in HPAECs. Hypoxia (2.0% FiO2) increased aldosterone levels selectively in HPAECs, which was confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Increased aldosterone by hypoxia resulted from enhanced c-Fos/c-Jun binding to the proximal activator protein (AP-1) site of the StAR promoter in HPAECs, which increased StAR expression and activity. In HPAECs transfected with StAR-siRNA or treated with the AP-1 inhibitor, SR-11302, hypoxia failed to increase aldosterone, confirming that aldosterone biosynthesis required StAR activation by c-Fos/c-Jun. The functional consequences of aldosterone were confirmed by pharmacological inhibition of the mineralocorticoid receptor with spironolactone or eplerenone, which attenuated hypoxia-induced upregulation of the fibrogenic protein connective tissue growth factor and collagen III in vitro, and decreased pulmonary vascular fibrosis to improve pulmonary hypertension in Conclusions Our findings identify autonomous aldosterone synthesis in HPAECs due to hypoxia-mediated upregulation of StAR as a novel molecular mechanism that promotes pulmonary vascular remodeling and fibrosis.