BACKGROUND Pharmacological blockade of beta3-integrins inhibits neointimal lesion formation in nonmouse animal models of arterial injury. In contrast, beta3-integrin-deficient (beta3-/-) mice are not protected from neointimal lesion formation after arterial injury. We investigated this discrepancy in beta3-/- and wild-type (beta3+/+) mice using different models of injury. METHODS AND RESULTS ...

Microtubule stabilizing agents (MTSA) are known to inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation and migration, and effectively reduce neointimal hyperplasia and restenosis. Epothilones (EPOs), non-taxane MTSA, have been found to be effective in the inhibition of VSMC proliferation and neointimal formation by cell cycle arrest. However, effect of EPOs on apoptosis in hyper-proliferat...

Blood vessels respond to injury through a healing process that includes neointimal hyperplasia. The vascular endothelium is a monolayer of cells that separates the outer vascular wall from the inner circulating blood. The disruption and exposure of endothelial cells (ECs) to subintimal components initiate the neointimal formation. ECs not only act as a highly selective barrier to prevent early ...

Immediately after angioplasty, platelet adhesion to the injured arterial wall and subsequent release of various mitogens may contribute to neointima formation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory effect of AJvW-2, a monoclonal antibody against human von Willebrand factor (vWF), on neointima formation in a guinea pig model. The carotid artery was injured with a balloon cathe...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of stent-based delivery of succinobucol alone and in combination with rapamycin in a porcine coronary model. BACKGROUND Current drugs and polymers used to coat coronary stents remain suboptimal in terms of long term efficacy and safety. Succinobucol is a novel derivative of probucol with improved antioxidant and anti-inflammatory prop...

AIMS The Ultimaster bioresorbable polymer sirolimus-eluting stent (BP-SES) is a newly developed drug-eluting stent (DES) that consists of a thin-strut, cobalt chromium with bioresorbable polymer coated only albuminally. We sought to compare tissue coverage in coronary lesions treated with BP-SES with the XIENCE permanent polymer everolimus-eluting stent (PP-EES) using optical coherence tomograp...

OBJECTIVE Human obesity is associated with elevated leptin levels and a high risk of death from cardiovascular disease. In the present study, we investigated the effects of leptin on vascular wound healing and arterial lesion growth in mice. METHODS AND RESULTS Wild-type mice placed on an atherogenic, high-fat diet had elevated (9-fold) leptin levels compared with their counterparts maintaine...

BACKGROUND In-stent restenosis by excessive intimal hyperplasia reduces the long-term clinical efficacy of coronary stents. Because shear stress (SS) is related to plaque growth in atherosclerosis, we investigated whether variations in SS distribution are related to variations in neointima formation. METHODS AND RESULTS In 14 patients, at 6-month follow-up after coronary Wallstent implantatio...

Immediately after angioplasty, platelet adhesion to the injured arterial wall and subsequent release of various mitogens may contribute to neointima formation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory effect of AJvW-2, a monoclonal antibody against human von Willebrand factor (vWF), on neointima formation in a guinea pig model. The carotid artery was injured with a balloon cathe...

BACKGROUND Although effective coverage of challenging coronary lesions has warranted the use of overlapping drug-eluting stents, the histopathological response to stent overlap is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS The arterial reaction to overlapping Cypher or Taxus drug-eluting stents was examined in rabbits with bare metal stents, BxVelocity or Express, serving as controls. Single iliac artery b...