The average age of the U.S. population continues to increase, causing a surge in the size of the geriatric population. While only 13% of the US population is 65 and older, they consume over 36% of personal health expenditures. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major contributor to both the mortality and health care costs among the elderly population. It is becoming evident that aging results in well-defined structural and functional changes in the blood vessel wall that renders the cardiovascular system prone to disease even in the absence of traditional risk factors. Moreover, age-related alterations render the aged vasculature more susceptible to the damaging effects of the common CV risk factors. Intrinsic cardiac aging in the murine model closely recapitulates age-related cardiac changes in humans (left ventricular hypertrophy, fibrosis and diastolic dysfunction), while the phenotype of vascular aging includes endothelial dysfunction, reduced vascular elasticity, and chronic vascular inflammation. Recent findings suggest that age-related diseases could be delayed by modulating senescence. Based on work from this laboratory and others, PAI-1 is now recognized as a fundamental driver of tissue senescence. The parent R01 of this revision supports an investigative program directed to define the role of PAI-1 in the molecular pathogenesis of senescence and aging-related changes in the cardiovascular system using murine models of accelerated aging. However, while mice with accelerated aging phenotype due to various mutations provide a fast and cost-effective model to study the role of PAI-1 in aging, there is a possibility that their phenotypes might not be relevant to aging in non-mutant animals. Accordingly, we propose to test the hypothesis that PAI-1 plays a fundamental role in the development of vascular senescence and aging not only in mice with an accelerated aging phenotype, but also in naturally aged mice.
The specific aims of this proposal are designed to investigate whether pharmacologic modulation of PAI-1 activity protects against the development of vascular abnormalities in aging animals with increased cardiovascular risk due to obesity and elevated blood pressure. We anticipate that the studies proposed here will provide proof of principle that pharmacological inhibition of PAI-1 activity is a rational therapeutic approach in preventing the cardiovascular manifestations of aging.

Public Health Relevance

It is becoming evident that aging results in well-defined structural and functional changes in the blood vessel wall that renders the cardiovascular system prone to disease. In this proposal, we will test a novel hypothesis that pharmacological inhibition of PAI-1 protects against the development of vascular abnormalities in aging animals. We anticipate that the studies proposed here will establish the pivotal role of PAI-1 in vascular senescence and provide new insights into the prevention and treatment of aging-related dysfunction.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01HL051387-19S1
Application #
9103741
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHL1)
Program Officer
Reid, Diane M
Project Start
1994-07-01
Project End
2018-05-31
Budget Start
2016-06-01
Budget End
2017-05-31
Support Year
19
Fiscal Year
2016
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
005436803
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60611
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Afzal, Muhammad Zeeshan; Gartz, Melanie; Klyachko, Ekaterina A et al. (2017) Generation of human iPSCs from urine derived cells of patient with a novel heterozygous PAI-1 mutation. Stem Cell Res 18:41-44
Flevaris, Panagiotis; Khan, Sadiya S; Eren, Mesut et al. (2017) Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Type I Controls Cardiomyocyte Transforming Growth Factor-? and Cardiac Fibrosis. Circulation 136:664-679
Rai, Rahul; Verma, Suresh K; Kim, David et al. (2017) A novel acetyltransferase p300 inhibitor ameliorates hypertension-associated cardio-renal fibrosis. Epigenetics 12:1004-1013
Yahata, Takashi; Ibrahim, Abd Aziz; Muguruma, Yukari et al. (2017) TGF-?-induced intracellular PAI-1 is responsible for retaining hematopoietic stem cells in the niche. Blood 130:2283-2294
Eren, Mesut; Place, Aaron T; Thomas, Paul M et al. (2017) PAI-1 is a critical regulator of FGF23 homeostasis. Sci Adv 3:e1603259
Rai, Rahul; Ghosh, Asish K; Eren, Mesut et al. (2017) Downregulation of the Apelinergic Axis Accelerates Aging, whereas Its Systemic Restoration Improves the Mammalian Healthspan. Cell Rep 21:1471-1480
Khan, Sadiya S; Shah, Sanjiv J; Klyachko, Ekaterina et al. (2017) A null mutation in SERPINE1 protects against biological aging in humans. Sci Adv 3:eaao1617
Afzal, Muhammad Zeeshan; Gartz, Melanie; Klyachko, Ekaterina A et al. (2017) Generation of human iPSCs from urine derived cells of a non-affected control subject. Stem Cell Res 18:33-36
Bautista-NiƱo, Paula K; Portilla-Fernandez, Eliana; Vaughan, Douglas E et al. (2016) DNA Damage: A Main Determinant of Vascular Aging. Int J Mol Sci 17:

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