Molecular aspects of pathological processes in the artery wall

The role of fructose-1,6-diphosphate in cell migration and proliferation in an in vitro xenograft blood vessel model of vascular wound healing

Both smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells play an important role in vascular wound healing. To elucidate the role of fructose-1,6-diphosphate, cell proliferation and cell migration studies were performed with human endothelial cells and rat smooth muscle cells. To mimic blood vessels, endothelial and smooth muscle cells were used in 1:10, 1:5, and 1:1 concentrations, respectively, mimicking large-, mid-, and capillary-sized blood vessels. Cell migration was studied with fetal bovine serum-starved cells. For cell proliferation assay, cells were plated at 30-50% confluency and then starved. The cells were incubated for 48 h with fructose-1,6-diphosphate at (per ml) 10 mg, 1 mg, 500 microg, 250 microg, 100 microg, and 10 microg, pulsed with tritiated-thymidine and incubated with 1 N NaOH for 30 min at room temperature, harvested, and counted. For migration assay, confluent cells were starved, wounded, and incubated for 24 h with same concentrations of fructose-1,6-diphosphate as in proliferation assay. The cells were fixed and counted. Smooth muscle cell proliferation was inhibited by fructose-1,6-diphosphate at 10 mg/ml. In the xenograft models of 1:10, 1:5, and 1:1 fructose-1,6-diphosphate inhibited proliferation at 10 mg/ml. In migration studies 10 mg fructose-1,6-diphosphate per ml was inhibitory to both cell types. In large-, mid-, and capillary-sized blood vessels, fructose-1,6-diphosphate inhibited proliferation of both cell types at 10 mg/ml. At the individual cell level, fructose-1,6-diphosphate is nonstimulatory to proliferation of endothelial cells while inhibiting migration, and it acts on smooth muscle cells by inhibiting both proliferation and migration.

The biology of the artery wall in atherogenesis

A great deal of progress has been made in the past few years in our understanding of the processes involved in atherogenesis and in mechanisms by which commonly accepted risk factors may affect these processes. These insights have allowed us to understand how various interventions may retard atherogenesis and decrease clinical events by improving plaque stability. The identification of new risk factors, such as lipoprotein(a), and of particular molecules that can be identified in atherosclerotic tissue, such as adhesion molecules, growth factors, cytokines, and proteins that regulate cholesterol uptake and removal, have identified several potential new targets for therapeutic intervention. Advances in molecular biologic techniques, including transgenic techniques, have markedly increased the types of potential interventions available. A major challenge for the future will be to determine which among this plethora of therapeutic possibilities holds the most promise for decreasing the morbidity and mortality associated with this disease.