Autophagy: a killer or guardian of vascular smooth muscle cells.
J Drug Target
; 28(5): 449-455, 2020 06.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31835918
ABSTRACT
Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) is one of the main intracellular components of the blood vessel wall. The abnormalities of VSMCs participate in the development of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, and restenosis, especially the formation and stability of atherosclerotic plaques. Autophagy is involved in the regulation of proliferation, migration and phenotype switching of VSMCs, which in turn affects the pathological process of atherosclerosis. However, the autophagy of VSMCs has a dual effect on cells survival. Autophagy is induced in VSMCs by various stimuli such as 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC), unsaturated lipid peroxidation-derived aldehyde and excess free cholesterol, thereby promoting VSMCs survival and stabilising atherosclerotic plaque. Conversely, autophagy caused by factors such as osteopontin (OPN), angiotensin II (Ang II) and nicotine can accelerate the death of VSMCs, further accelerating atherosclerotic lesions. In addition, mitophagy and lipophagy as selective autophagy are also involved in the outcome of VSMCs as well as progression of atherosclerotic lesion. Currently, there are only a few drugs available to induce VSMCs autophagy, such as atorvastatin, telmisartan and so on. Due to the important role of VSMCs autophagy in the progression of atherosclerosis plaques, drugs that directly target autophagy of VSMCs are urgently needed to be developed.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Autophagy
/
Myocytes, Smooth Muscle
/
Muscle, Smooth, Vascular
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Drug Target
Journal subject:
FARMACOLOGIA
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
China