Inês Martins, PhD, managing science editor —

A research collaboration between Intermountain Medical Center and ARUP Laboratories recently led to the development of a new and simple genomic testing method to diagnose a rare form of pulmonary hypertension (PH) caused by a certain gene mutation. Contrary to current tests that could require invasive lung biopsies to determined if a…

Statins, the cholesterol lowering drugs, may improve the beneficial effects of Rho-kinase inhibitors in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to the results of an animal study performed by researchers at the Medical University of Lodz, in Poland. The study, titled “Rosuvastatin intensifies the beneficial effects of rho-kinase inhibitor…

Inhibiting the molecular chaperone heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) may be a promising therapeutic approach in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to an animal study developed by researchers at the Second Military Medical University in China. The study, “Inhibition of heat shock protein 90 improves pulmonary arteriole remodeling…

Gene therapy may offer a promising therapeutic approach for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to an animal study conducted by Japanese researchers. The study “Constitutively active form of natriuretic peptide receptor 2 ameliorates experimental pulmonary arterial hypertension,” published in Molecular Therapy Methods and Clinical Development, shows…

INOpulse, a nitric oxide delivery device that is being developed by Bellerophon Therapeutics, was approved by health authorities in Belgium to be used in a Phase 2 trial in patients with pulmonary hypertension associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (PH-COPD). The first patient is expected to be enrolled in the third quarter…

The presence of atrial arrhythmias may help predict unfavorable prognosis in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), according to a study published in the Cardiology Journal. The study also showed that longer P-waves, a type of wave found in electrocardiographies (ECG), can predict shorter survival rates. The work was developed…

Measuring right ventricular (RV) function in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) using echocardiography is useful to predict patients’ prognosis, according to researchers at the Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo in Italy. This may be of clinical relevance because echocardiography is cheaper and provides faster results than standard techniques, such as cardiac magnetic resonance…

Sensitivity to DNA damage may act as an early trigger of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to researchers at the Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec, in Canada. In the study “DNA Damage and Pulmonary Hypertension,” published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences,…

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Union parallel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), advised that the therapy Adempas (riociguat) should not be prescribed to patients with PH associated with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (PH-IIP). According to a press release, EMA’s recommendation was supported by results of a Phase 2…

Researchers at the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan demonstrated that the endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan can improve endothelial dysfunction parameters in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), but not in patients with inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The findings were published in the Pulmonary…

Researchers from Tufts Medical Center in Boston identified two new biomarkers that may help predict survival in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Findings from the study “Plasma 12- and 15-hydroxyeicosanoids are predictors of survival in pulmonary arterial hypertension,” were recently published in the journal Pulmonary Circulation. PAH…

Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston recently revealed that pulmonary arterial stiffening may be an early event that drives vascular remodeling and leads to pulmonary hypertension (PH). The findings were published in JCI Insight, in the study “Distal Vessel stiffening is an early and…