Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0020538 (hypertension)
170,190 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Angiotensin II (Ang II)-mediated hypertension increases the risk for acute coronary syndrome, a consequence of atherosclerotic plaque rupture, which may be caused by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Here, we show that human primary monocytes stimulated with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) release Ang II, which is an integral component of the signal transduction pathway that leads to MMP-1 production. An Ang II-mediated increase in MMP-1 synthesis occurred only in conjunction with cytokine stimulation. Moreover, Ang II mediated its effect through the Ang II type 2 (AT(2)) receptor, as demonstrated by enhancement of MMP-1 production by an AT(2) agonist, CGP-42112A, and inhibition of MMP-1 production by PD1233319, an AT(2) antagonist. Additionally, exogenous Ang II caused a significant enhancement in MMP-1 production by cytokine-stimulated monocytes, and the most effective enhancement occurrred when Ang II was added 6 h after stimulation. Furthermore, Ang II and the AT(2) agonist increased prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)), which in turn mediated the increase in MMP-1, as shown by the inhibition of MMP-1 by indomethacin or aspirin. In contrast, the AT(2) antagonist inhibited the PGE(2) production induced by TNF-alpha and GM-CSF. Ang II, through its interaction with the AT(2) receptor, has a central role in mediating the PGE(2)-dependent production of MMP-1 by monocytes stimulated with TNF-alpha and GM-CSF. These observations provide insight into the association between hypertension and acute coronary syndrome and a possible mechanism by which Ang-converting enzyme inhibitor and aspirin may reduce the risk for heart attacks.
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PMID:Angiotensin II increases human monocyte matrix metalloproteinase-1 through the AT2 receptor and prostaglandin E2: implications for atherosclerotic plaque rupture. 1581 99

Thiopental has been used for decades in the treatment of refractory intracranial hypertension in patients with traumatic and nontraumatic head injuries. Commonly reported adverse effects include hypotension, hypokalemia, respiratory complications, and hepatic dysfunction. Neutropenia has rarely been reported as an adverse effect of thiopental. We witnessed probable thiopental-induced neutropenia in two patients with traumatic brain injuries who developed increased intracranial hypertension that was refractory to standard therapy. Based on a MEDLINE search of published case reports and literature, we propose two mechanisms by which thiopental-related neutropenia might be explained. The first is inhibition of inflammatory mediator nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B), leading to granulocyte apoptosis. The second mechanism involves inhibition of calcineurin. Although the precise link between these two mechanisms has not been elucidated, calcineurin is known to regulate NF-kappa B activity. Development of neutropenia does not appear to be correlated with time but may correlate with plasma concentrations of thiopental. The optimum management of drug-induced neutropenia is unclear. The decision to discontinue thiopental in patients who develop neutropenia should be made by weighing the risks versus benefits. Broad-spectrum antibiotics may be required in the presence of fever. The role of hematopoietic growth factors such as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor is not yet defined. Given the adverse infectious consequences of neutropenia, it is essential to closely monitor neutrophil counts in patients receiving thiopental.
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PMID:Thiopental-induced neutropenia in two patients with severe head trauma. 1731 58

Suaeda asparagoides Miq. (Chenopodiaceae: S. asparagoides) is a salt-marsh plant that has long been prescribed in traditional Oriental medicine for the treatment of hypertension and hepatitis. In order to elucidate the pharmacological mechanisms of the herb, we conducted an examination of the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties of solvent-extracts of S. asparagoides. All of the solvent fractions showed potent anti-oxidative effects, as assessed using a radical generation assay system (xanthine oxidase assay) and an electron-donating activity system (DPPH [2,2-diphenyl-l-picrylhydrazyl radical] assay), with IC50 values ranging from 9 to 42 microg/ml. In agreement with this pattern, the total phenolic contents were widely distributed in the various solvent fractions, and ranged from 36.5 to 50.3 mg/g of dry weight. All of the solvent fractions significantly suppressed NO production in RAW264.7 cells induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 0.1 microg/ml) and of the fractions, only the chloroform (CHC) fraction completely blocked the expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS). Additionally, the hexane (HEX) and CHC fractions suppressed the mRNA expression of granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), respectively, in the LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Therefore, these results suggest that the pharmacological action of S. asparagoides is due to its potent anti-oxidative effects and anti-inflammatory effects, and that therefore it can be applied to other diseases caused by oxidative stress and inflammation, such as cardiovascular diseases.
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PMID:In vitro anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of solvent-extracted fractions from Suaeda asparagoides. 1766 94

The purpose of the investigation was to study peculiarities of the functioning of neutrophile granulocytes in chronic rheumatic disease (CRD) complicated by cardiovascular pathology. The subjects of the study were 80 patients with CRD of the heart with valvular defects, accompanied by arterial hypertension (AH) and cardiac arrhythmias: 37 men (mean age 53.6 +/- 9.7 years) and 43 women (mean age 56.2 +/- 9.6 years). The control group consisted of 25 healthy donors. Isolated peripheral blood neutrophiles were cultivated during 6 hours. The level of nitric oxide (NO) production was measured. Functional cell activity was studied by chemoluminiscent assay. The degree of apoptotic readiness was studied by immunocytochemical method, determining bak marker expression on cell membrane surface. In CRD the processes of oxygen-dependent neutrophile metabolism were found to be intensified, which was accompanied by intensified reserve abilities and decreased NO synthesis and apoptotic activity. Functional cell activity in patients with a background of AH was characterized by lowered granulocyte NO production. Intensified production of active oxygen metabolites, observed in paroxysmal cardiac fibrillation, evidences the hyperactivity of the pro-oxidative system, leads to fast myocardial cell membrane lesion and the development of structural changes forming abnormal automatism and trigger activity. Neutrophiles isolated from patients with CRD were in a state of priming, the feature of which was high biocide cell potential. The lowering of apoptotic readiness evidences high mobilization abilities of neutrophiles. The synthesis of NO as one of autoregulation factors is a protective mechanism directed against the cytotoxic activity of phagocytes. The stimulation of granulocyte NO production can lower the oxidative stress intensity and leukocyte aggression and stabilize the course of the disease.
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PMID:[Neutrophile apoptosis in patients with chronic rheumatic heart disease]. 1831 63

This Phase II study evaluated darbepoetin alfa (DA) in 24 patients with predominantly low or intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Intra-patient dose escalation of DA was undertaken in three 6-week dose cohorts until a major erythroid response was achieved: 4.5 mcg/kg/week, 9 mcg/kg/week, and 9 mcg/kg/week plus granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) 2.5 mcg/kg twice weekly. Patients with refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts (RARS) commenced DA at 9 mcg/kg/week. The weight-based dosing regimen translated into a median starting DA dose of 390 mcg/week. Erythroid responses were observed in 16/24 patients (67%; 12 major and 4 minor), with a median response duration of 11 months in major responders. Addition of G-CSF generated a major erythroid response in 7/15 patients (47%) who suboptimally responded to DA alone. DA was well tolerated, except for worsening of baseline mild hypertension and renal insufficiency in one patient with diabetes. IPSS score <0.5 and RBC transfusions <2 units/month increased the probability of an erythroid response. A minority of subjects (12%) developed low-level non-neutralizing anti-DA antibodies. Our data indicate that weekly weight-based dosing of DA, with the addition of G-CSF in selected individuals, can be an effective erythropoietic option in a high proportion of lower-risk MDS patients.
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PMID:A Phase II intra-patient dose-escalation trial of weight-based darbepoetin alfa with or without granulocyte-colony stimulating factor in myelodysplastic syndromes. 1903 63

Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS) is recently described disorder with typical radiological findings in the posterior regions of the cerebral hemisphere and cerebellum. Its clinical symptoms include headache, decreased alertness, mental abnormalities, such as confusion, diminished spontaneity of speech, and changed behavior ranging from drowsiness to stupor, seizures, vomiting and abnormalities of visual perception like cortical blindness. RPLS is caused by various heterogeneous factors, the commonest being hypertension, followed by non-hypertensive causes such as eclampsia, renal diseases and immunosuppressive therapy. We presented nine patients with RPLS who had primary diagnoses such as acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, idiopathic hypertension, the performing of intravenous immunoglobulin for infection with crescentic glomerulonephritis, erythrocyte transfusion for severe iron deficiency, L: -asparaginase treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and performing of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor for ulcerative colitis due to neutropenia. Early recognition of RPLS as complication during different diseases and therapy in childhood may facilitate precise diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
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PMID:Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome in childhood: report of nine cases and review of the literature. 1980 87

Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) activation by aldosterone controls salt homeostasis and inflammation in several tissues and cell types. Whether or not a functional MR exists in polymorphonuclear neutrophils is unknown. We investigated the hypothesis that aldosterone modulates inflammatory neutrophil responses via the MR. By flow cytometry, Western blot analysis, and microscopy, we found that neutrophils possess MR. Preincubation with aldosterone (10(-11) to 10(-6) M) dose-dependently inhibited nuclear factor kappaB activation in interleukin (IL)-8- and granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor-treated neutrophils on fibronectin by IkappaBalpha Western blotting, electrophoretic mobility shift assay, and RT-PCR for IkappaBalpha mRNA. Aldosterone had no effect on tumor necrosis factor alpha- and lipopolysaccharide-mediated nuclear factor kappaB activation or on IL-8- and granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor-induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, or phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt activation. Spironolactone prevented nuclear factor kappaB inhibition, indicating an MR-specific aldosterone effect. By RT-PCR, we found that neutrophils have 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. Tumor necrosis factor alpha, which is controlled by nuclear factor kappaB, increased in the cell supernatant with IL-8 treatment. Aldosterone completely prevented this effect. RT-PCR showed a strong tumor necrosis factor alpha mRNA increase with IL-8 that was blocked by aldosterone, excluding the possibility that the tumor necrosis factor alpha increase was merely a consequence of secretion. Finally, conditioned medium from IL-8-treated neutrophils increased intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression on endothelial cells and subsequently the adhesion of IL-8-treated neutrophils to endothelial cells. These effects were reduced when conditioned medium from aldosterone-pretreated neutrophils was used, and spironolactone blocked the aldosterone effect. Our data indicate that a functional MR exists in neutrophils mediating antiinflammatory effects that are at work when neutrophils interact with endothelial cells. These data could be relevant to MR-blockade treatment protocols.
Hypertension 2010 Feb
PMID:Aldosterone abrogates nuclear factor kappaB-mediated tumor necrosis factor alpha production in human neutrophils via the mineralocorticoid receptor. 2006 53

Neutropenia is a relatively frequent finding in the neonatal intensive care unit, particularly in very low birth weight neonates during the first week of life. Healthy term and preterm neonates have blood neutrophil counts within the same basic range as adults, but their neutrophil function, and their neutrophil kinetics during infection, differ considerably from those of adults. Neutrophil function of neonates, particularly preterm neonates, is less robust than that of adults and might also contribute to the increase in propensity to infection. In premature infants, early-onset neutropenia is correlated with sepsis, maternal hypertension, intrauterine growth restriction, severe asphyxia, and periventricular haemorrhage, and might be associated with an increase in the incidence of early-onset sepsis, nosocomial infection, and Candida colonisation. Some varieties of neutropenia in the NICU are very common and others are extremely rare. The most common causes of neutropenia in the NICU have an underlying cause that is often evident, and require little diagnostic evaluation. Unlike, persistent neutropenia should prompt evaluation even if it is of moderate severity. The laboratory tests to consider are those that provide a specific diagnosis. The first tests that should be ordered are a blood film, a complete blood count on the mother, and, if her blood neutrophil concentration is normal, maternal neutrophil antigen typing and an anti-neutrophil antibody screen. A bone marrow biopsy can be useful in cases with prolonged, unusual, or refractory neutropenia. Various treatments have been proposed as means of enhancing neutrophil production and function in preterm infants. Both recombinant granulocyte stimulating factor and recombinant granulocyte macrophage-colony-stimulating factor have been tried with variable success. Intravenous immunoglobulin, corticosteroids, granulocyte transfusions, and gamma interferon did not show a clear adequate beneficial role for the therapy of neonatal neutropenia.
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PMID:Neonatal neutropenia: what diagnostic evaluation is needed and when is treatment recommended? 2263 5

Angiotensin II (Ang II) contributes to the pathogenesis of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Ang II induces a pro-oxidative, proinflammatory, and prothrombogenic phenotype in vascular endothelial cells. Although the peptide promotes the recruitment of leukocytes and platelets and induces oxidative stress in the microvasculature, it remains unclear whether and how the blood cell recruitment is linked to the production of reactive oxygen species. In this study, we addressed the contributions of Ang II type 1 receptors (AT(1)r) and gp91(phox) to the recruitment of leukocytes and platelets and reactive oxygen species production in venules during chronic (2-week) infusion of Ang II in wild-type (WT) and mutant mice. Intravital video microscopy was used to measure the adhesion and emigration of leukocytes, the adhesion of fluorescently labeled platelets, and dihydrorhodamine oxidation (a measure of oxidative stress) in cremaster muscle postcapillary venules. In WT mice, Ang II infusion induced a time-dependent increase in the adhesion of leukocytes and platelets and enhanced reactive oxygen species production in venules. These changes in blood cell adhesion and reactive oxygen species production were not observed in AT(1)r(-/-) mice, AT(1)r(-/-) bone marrow chimeras (blood cells deficient in AT(1)r), gp91(phox-/-) mice, gp91(phox-/-) chimeras (blood cells or endothelial cells deficient in gp91(phox)), and in WT mice rendered granulocytopenic via intraperitoneal injection of antimouse granulocyte receptor 1 antibody. Thrombocytopenic WT mice (platelets depleted by intraperitoneal injection of rabbit antimouse thrombocyte antiserum) responded similar to WT mice. These findings implicate leukocyte-associated AT(1)r and gp91(phox) in the induction of the pro-oxidative, proinflammatory, and prothrombogenic phenotype assumed by microvessels that is chronically exposed to elevated Ang II.
Hypertension 2012 Dec
PMID:Leukocyte-dependent responses of the microvasculature to chronic angiotensin II exposure. 2309 Jul 70

Microparticles (MPs) could be considered biomarkers of cell damage and activation as well as novel signalling structures. Since rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by immune and endothelial activation, the main aim of the present study was to analyse MP counts in RA patients. Citrated-blood samples were obtained from 114 RA patients, 33 healthy controls (HC) and 72 individuals with marked cardiovascular (CV) risk without autoimmune manifestations (CVR). MPs were analysed in platelet-poor plasma (PPP) and different subsets were identified by their surface markers: platelet- (CD41+), endothelial- (CD146+), granulocyte- (CD66+), monocyte- (CD14+) and Tang- (CD3+CD31+) derived. Disease activity score (DAS28), clinical and immunological parameters as well as traditional CV risk factors (diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and obesity) were registered from clinical records and all data were integrated using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Absolute MP number was increased in RA patients compared with HC and positively correlated with traditional CV risk factors, similar to that of CVR subjects. In addition, frequency of the different MP subsets was different in RA patients and significantly associated with disease features. Moreover, in vitro assays revealed that MPs isolated from RA patients were able to promote endothelial activation and exhibited detrimental effects on human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC-I) endothelial cell functionality. Circulating MPs from RA patients displayed quantitative and qualitative alterations that are the result of both disease-specific and traditional CV risk factors. Accordingly, this MP pool exhibited in vitro detrimental effects on endothelial cells, thus supporting their role as biomarkers of vascular damage.
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PMID:Altered profile of circulating microparticles in rheumatoid arthritis patients. 2536 51


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