Project Details
Projekt
Origin and fate of vascular myofibroblasts and smooth muscle cells during pulmonary vascular remodeling and reverse remodeling (A04)
Subject Area
Pneumology, Thoracic Surgery
Term
since 2016
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 268555672
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is largely present in patients suffering from chronic lung diseases such as COPD. Although current dogma states that PH-associated vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) arise predominantly due to the expansion of pre-existing VSMCs located in the proximal part of pulmonary vessels, we showed that perivascular, sonic-hedgehog-responsive GLI1+ cells are major contributors to VSMCs in both hypoxia and cigarette-smoke-induced PH. In the next funding period, we aim to characterize, genetically manipulate and ablate the specific subset of GLI1+ cells contributing to PH, with special emphasis on FGF signaling in the context of both mouse and human-derived material.
DFG Programme
Collaborative Research Centres
Subproject of
SFB 1213:
Pulmonary Hypertension and Cor Pulmonale
Applicant Institution
Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
