Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018799 (heart disease)
 34,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

To examine the relationship between the plasma levels of angiogenic growth factors and the severity of cyanosis, 80 patients with cyanotic heart disease (CHD) and 81 healthy controls were studied. Median age and mean arterial blood oxygen saturation respectively were 4.2 years and 81% in CHD subjects and 4.8 years and 98% in controls. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) were measured in plasma using enzyme-linked immunoassay. Plasma VEGF levels in controls depended negatively on age (p < 0.0001) until 3 months, when VEGF was no longer elevated. No such age dependence was found for HGF. Although VEGF levels did not differ between CHD and control subjects up to the age of 3 months, VEGF was significantly elevated in CHD patients older than 3 months compared to controls of similar age (149 +/- 106 vs 65 +/- 23 pg/ml, p < 0.0001). Moreover, the VEGF levels were negatively correlated with oxygen saturation (p = 0.03) and positively correlated with hemoglobin (p = 0.004) in CHD patients aged between 3 months and 10 years. Although the physiologic elevation of VEGF in the neonatal period decreases rapidly if oxygen saturation is normal, VEGF elevations persist if systemic hypoxia is present.
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PMID:Increased angiogenic growth factor in cyanotic congenital heart disease. 1236 Mar 91

Endothelial dysfunction occurs in heart disease and may reduce functional capacity via attenuations in peripheral blood flow. Dietary decosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may improve this dysfunction, but the mechanism is unknown. This study determined if DHA enhances expression and activity of eNOS in cultured human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAEC). HCAEC from 4 donors were treated with 5 nM, 50 nM, or 1 microM DHA for 7 days to model chronic DHA exposure. A trend for increased expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and phospho-eNOS was observed with 5 and 50 nM DHA. DHA also enhanced expression of 2 proteins instrumental in activation of eNOS: phospho-Akt (5 and 50 nM) and HSP90 (50 nM and 1 microM). Vascular endothelial growth factor-induced activation of Akt increased NOx in treated (50 nM DHA) versus untreated HCAEC (9.2 +/- 1.0 vs 3.3 +/- 1.1 micromol/microg protein/microL). Findings suggest that DHA enhances eNOS and Akt activity, augments HSP90 expression, and increases NO bioavailability in response to Akt kinase activation.
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PMID:Effects of dietary decosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on eNOS in human coronary artery endothelial cells. 1868 51

Tetralogy of Fallot is the most common cyanotic congenital heart disease with decreased pulmonary blood flow. Right-to-left shunt and infundibular pulmonary stenosis in this disease lead to a decrease in arterial O(2) saturation. Hypoxia is a strong stimulus for angiogenesis; however, the reason for insufficiency in the pulmonary vascular growth in patients despite chronic arterial hypoxia is still not known. This study was planned considering that the impairment in vascular endothelial growth factor-receptor relationship or the vascular endothelial growth factor-receptor deficiency in the pulmonary vascular bed during development may cause insufficiency of pulmonary vascular growth. A total of 24 patients were grouped as cyanotic - including 13 patients with tetralogy of Fallot - and acyanotic - including 11 patients with left-to-right shunt lesions. During cardiac catheterisation, vascular endothelial growth factor measurements were performed; and oxygen saturations, pressures, and haemoglobin levels were measured. Perioperative lung biopsy for vascular endothelial growth factor receptors was performed in the cyanotic group. Vascular endothelial growth factor of the aorta was higher in the acyanotic group. There was a significant negative correlation between vascular endothelial growth factor levels and aortic O(2) saturation in the cyanotic group (p < 0.05). Vascular endothelial growth factor tissue staining was negative in 11 out of 13 (84.6%) patients. KDR/Flk-1 receptor was positive in four out of 13 (30.7%) patients; Flt-1 receptor was positive in six out of 13 (46.1%) patients. Vascular endothelial growth factor values were found to be lower than those of the acyanotic patients in this study. Low serum vascular endothelial growth factor levels of the cyanotic group, in spite of the hypoxia, demonstrated the importance of studying vascular endothelial growth factor tissue levels and vascular endothelial growth factor receptors in these patients.
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PMID:Serum and pulmonary vascular endothelial growth factor/receptors and haemodynamic measurements in cyanotic congenital heart disease with decreased pulmonary blood flow. 2177 42

Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) is an orphan syndrome characterized by abnormal proliferation of the skin and osseous tissues at the distal parts of the extremities. The main clinical features are: a peculiar bulbous deformity of the tips of the digits conventionally described as "clubbing," periosteal proliferation of the tubular bones, and synovial effusions. In most instances, HOA develops a reaction to a severe internal illness, such as lung cancer, cyanotic heart disease, or liver cirrhosis. There is a subgroup of patients who do not have underlying pathology. Such cases are classified as having primary HOA. Digital clubbing is easy to recognize. Any patient with newly developed digital clubbing should undergo careful search for an underlying illness with special attention to intra-thoracic pathologies. Painful HOA is treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. Vascular endothelial growth factor and prostaglandin E2 have been proposed as key bone proliferating mediators.
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PMID:Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy. 3229 Dec 3

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFRs) are part of the evolutionarily conserved VEGF signalling pathways that regulate the development and maintenance of the body's cardiovascular and lymphovascular systems. VEGFR3, encoded by the FLT4 gene, has an indispensable and well-characterised function in development and establishment of the lymphatic system. Autosomal dominant VEGFR3 mutations, that prevent the receptor functioning as a homodimer, cause one of the major forms of hereditary primary lymphoedema; Milroy disease. Recently, we and others have shown that FLT4 variants, distinct to those observed in Milroy disease cases, predispose individuals to Tetralogy of Fallot, the most common cyanotic congenital heart disease, demonstrating a novel function for VEGFR3 in early cardiac development. Here, we examine the familiar and emerging roles of VEGFR3 in the development of both lymphovascular and cardiovascular systems, respectively, compare how distinct genetic variants in FLT4 lead to two disparate human conditions, and highlight the research still required to fully understand this multifaceted receptor.
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PMID:The physiological and pathological functions of VEGFR3 in cardiac and lymphatic development and related diseases. 3306 26