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)

Cardiac ultrasound investigation of 68 prospectively studied patients with histologically proven midgut carcinoid tumors showed right heart disease in 66%. The abnormal findings included morphologic and functional aberrations of the tricuspid valve in 52% and 83%, respectively, right atrial and ventricular enlargement in 53% and 30%, and paradoxical systolic septal contractions in 19%. The patients with the most pronounced right heart disease had significantly higher (p less than .01) plasma levels of the tachykinins neuropeptide K and substance P as well as higher (p less than .001) urinary excretion of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid. These patients also had the most extensive tumor disease. The occurrence of echocardiographic abnormalities of the left heart was similar to that in healthy individuals of the same age, but abnormalities were less frequent among the patients with severe right heart disease. Electrocardiographic changes were nonspecific. Right heart disease thus seems to be present more often than previously reported in patients with malignant midgut carcinoid tumors. The severity of cardiac involvement does not seem to be related to the duration of carcinoid disease but more to the extent of the disease, i.e., higher plasma levels of serotonin and tachykinins.
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PMID:Carcinoid heart disease: relationship of circulating vasoactive substances to ultrasound-detectable cardiac abnormalities. 244 62

Sixteen patients with metastatic carcinoid tumors of ileal or cecal origin were studied in order to evaluate the frequency and degree of cardiac involvement in a nonselected patient group. We have also studied the correlation between plasma hormone levels (e.g., 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and substance P) and the degree of cardiac involvement. The patients underwent physical examinations, electrocardiograms, chest x-rays, cardiac catheterization, and echocardiography. Plasma levels of 5-HT and substance P were analyzed. Carcinoid heart involvement was found in 3 of 16 patients (19%) but no patient had subjective symptoms associated with heart disease. Four patients (25%) had slight pulmonary hypertension. No left-sided heart lesions were seen. No correlation between blood levels of 5-HT or substance P and heart involvement was found. Eight patients died during the follow-up period, but in none of these was the cause of death cardiac failure. Carcinoid heart disease is not as common in our patients as in patients selected on a cardiological basis described in earlier studies. Echocardiography appears to be the most efficient technique for detection of even subclinical heart involvement and a useful tool for following its progress.
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PMID:Heart involvement in metastatic carcinoid disease. 394 30

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are among the first-choice drugs for treating hypertension and congestive heart disease. It has been reported, however, that these drugs could induce chronic cough and airway hyperresponsiveness. The aim of this work was to assess in pigs the effects of bradykinin and tachykinins on citric-acid-induced coughing after ACE inhibitor pretreatment. Coughing was induced by challenging pigs with an aerosol of 0.8 M citric acid over 15 min. Coughs were counted by a trained observer for 30 min. The animals underwent two cough induction tests two days apart (days 1 and 3), the first being taken as a control. All drugs were injected intravenously 30 min before the second challenge. In the control group, no difference was observed between days 1 and 3. The ACE inhibitor enalapril (7.5 and 15 microg/kg) caused the cough frequency to increase significantly. In contrast, a dose-related decrease was observed with Hoe140 (icatibant), a bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist (0.5 and 1 mg/kg). When both drugs were administered simultaneously (15 microg/kg for enalapril and 1 mg/kg for Hoe140), a significant increase was observed as compared with the control value obtained on day 1. When enalapril was combined with the three tachykinin receptor antagonists SR 140333 (NK1 receptor antagonist), SR 48968 (NK2 receptor antagonist) and SR 142801 (NK3 receptor antagonist), a significant decrease was observed as compared with control value obtained on day 1; the percentage of variation was also significantly different as compared with those observed in enalapril groups at both doses. These data suggest that ACE-inhibitor-induced enhancement of the cough reflex is mainly due to tachykinins and not to bradykinin in our pig model. Bradykinin, however, plays a major role in coughing induced by citric acid alone.
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PMID:Role of bradykinin and tachykinins in the potentiation by enalapril of coughing induced by citric acid in pigs. 1146 10

The possibility of links between psychosocial factors and cancer incidence and progression has generated considerable scientific and public interest. Tachykinins, including substance P, neurokinin A and B, hemokinin-1 and endokinins, are a family of neuropeptides, acting through three types of transmembrane G-protein coupled receptors denoted NK1, NK2 and NK3. Besides their role as neurotransmitters in peripheral and central nervous system, tachykinins and their receptors are also expressed in several non neuronal cells contributing to the fine connections between nervous systems and peripheral organ system such as respiratory, cardiovascular, immune, endocrine, gastrointestinal and genitourinary. Being so much involved in regulating physiological functions, they, of course, can concur to pathological conditions including cancer. Tachykinins can act on different steps of carcinogenesis. Tumors expressing NK receptors, such as astrocytoma, glioma, neuroblastoma, pancreatic cancer and melanoma, can misuse tachykinin-induced signaling, operating in normal cells, to promote proliferation and survival of cancer cells and to release cytokines and soluble mediators favoring tumor growth. In neuroblastoma, breast and prostate carcinomas tachykinins facilitate tumor metastatic infiltration in the bone marrow. In neuroendocrine carcinoma, tachykinins are responsible of symptoms associated with these pathologies including flushing, diarrhea, wheezing and right heart disease. In addition, regardless tumor histology, tachykinins may favor cancer incidence and metastatic progression by influencing blood flux and neovascularization in tumor formation as well as inducing immunosuppression mediated by neurogenic inflammation due to stress or surgery. However, the precise involvement of tachykinins in cancer pathologies and the potentiality to become effective pharmacological drug targets remain to be fully defined.
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PMID:Tachykinins and their receptors in human malignancies. 1691 32

Originally discovered in the 1930s, tachykinins have been a subject of renewed interest. Antagonists to the tachykinin receptors have shown potential in the treatment of a variety of maladies including neurodegenerative disorders, heart disease, pain perception and malignancies. Tachykinins have been the subject of intense studies due to their impact on hematopoiesis that has significant effects on endothelial tissue and vascular conditions. Hematopoiesis relies on a relatively small subset of bone marrow-resident hematopoietic stem cells. This review discusses the network developed by cytokines and the tachykinins to regulate hematopoiesis. An understanding of tachykinin effect on normal hematopoietic functions and their involvement in hematological disorders could lead to new treatments for bone marrow disorders such as fibrosis, leukemia and anemia.
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PMID:Tachykinins and hematopoiesis. 1769 52

Besides alterations in cardiomyocytes themselves, diabetic cardiopathy is characterized by interstitial and microvascular disorders. On the assumption that a specific heart muscle disease develops due to permanently increased oxidative stress on liberation of oxygen-free radicals, adjuvant application of antioxidative therapeutics appears promising in preventing or delaying long-term diabetic complications and protecting the myocardium against acute ischemia. We have investigated the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761), a radical scavenger, against diabetes-induced myocardial interstitium and microvasculature damage, and against additional ischemia/reperfusion injury in spontaneously diabetic BioBreeding/Ottawa Karlsburg (BB/OK) rats modelling diabetic cardiac infarction. Morphological and morphometric parameters in the heart muscle were evaluated by light and electron microscope. We used immunohistochemistry to investigate collagen protein expression as a marker for tissue remodelling together with endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) protein expression as a marker for endothelial-dependent vasodilation. We also evaluated inflammation response caused by neuropeptide Substance P and interacting mast cells in the diabetic heart. Our results revealed that A) Diabetic myocardium appears more vulnerable to ischemia/reperfusion injury than normal myocardium with regard to myocardial interstitium and microvessel ultrastructure, as well as eNOS protein expression; B) Inflammation response increases in diabetic animals exposed to ischemia/reperfusion injury compared to controls; C) Pre-treatment of diabetic myocardium with EGb results in an improvement of impaired endothelial-dependent vasodilation in diabetes and additional ischemia/ reperfusion, diminished mast cell and substance P accumulation, and better preserved myocardial ultrastructure compared to unprotected myocardium. In conclusion, EGb may act as a potent therapeutic adjuvant in diabetics with respect to ischemic myocardial injury, and may contribute to preventing late complications in diabetic cardiopathy.
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PMID:Cardiac ischemia and reperfusion in spontaneously diabetic rats with and without application of EGb 761: II. Interstitium and microvasculature. 1928 67