News

Gemcitabine, chemotherapy for solid tumors, may lead to PAH

Gemcitabine, a chemotherapy given to treat solid cancers, may drive the onset of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in patients or worsen existing PAH, a recent study reports. Stopping treatment with gemcitabine, with or without a subsequent PAH-approved treatment, led to clinical improvement or disease stabilization for a majority…

Higher Revatio dose not linked to increased mortality in PAH: Trial

Treatment with Revatio (sildenafil) at a higher dose than the recommended and previously approved doses did not significantly increase mortality of adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). That’s according to results from the Phase 3b/4 AFFILIATE trial (NCT02060487), which compared three treatment doses, each given three times…

FeNO levels may help diagnose severe idiopathic PAH: Study

Levels of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) — a measure of how much nitric oxide a person exhales — may be used as a diagnostic tool for severe disease in people with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (iPAH), a study has found. Specifically, patients with FeNO levels lower than 23…

Targeting HIF-2alpha protein may be therapeutic approach for PAH

Findings of a new study into pericytes — cells with multiple functions including immune cell regulation — suggest that targeting a protein known as HIF-2alpha, which is involved in the response to low oxygen conditions, or hypoxia, may be a potential therapeutic approach for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The…

Possible diagnostic biomarkers ID’d for COVID-19 complicated by PH

Researchers have identified two inflammation-related genes — SELE and CCL20 — whose activity could serve as diagnostic biomarkers for the development of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in people with COVID-19. Further, the team also identified molecules that target these biomarkers as possible therapeutic approaches for managing the complication. Overall, the…

Skeletal muscle dysfunction not cause of reduced exercise capacity

Reduced exercise capacity appeared to be a consequence of cardiac and pulmonary changes, but not skeletal muscle alterations, in rat models of pulmonary hypertension (PH), according to recent research. While no functional problems with muscles could be observed despite obvious impairments in exercise capacity, significant cardiopulmonary dysfunction was already present.