Nathalie Mouraret, Amal Houssaïni, Shariq Abid, Rozenn Quarck, Elisabeth Marcos, Aurelien Parpaleix, Guillaume Gary-Bobo, Jean-Luc Dubois-Randé, Geneviève Derumeaux, Jorge Boczkowski, Marion Delcroix, Maria A Blasco, Larissa Lipskaia, Valérie Amsellem, Serge Adnot
BACKGROUND: Cells exhibiting dysregulated growth may express telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), the dual function of which consists of maintaining telomere length, in association with the RNA template molecule TERC, and controlling cell growth. Here, we investigated lung TERT in human and experimental pulmonary hypertension (PH) and its role in controlling pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell (PA-SMC) proliferation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Marked TERT expression or activity was found in lungs from patients with idiopathic PH and from mice with PH induced by hypoxia or serotonin-transporter overexpression (SM22-5HTT(+) mice), chiefly within PA-SMCs...
February 24, 2015: Circulation