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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its complications are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Because of the side effects and incomplete recovery from current therapy, stem cell therapy emerges as a potential therapy for CVD treatment, and endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) is one of the key stem cells used for therapeutic applications. The effect of this therapy required the expansion of EPC function. To enhance the EPC activation, proliferation, and angiogenesis using dronedarone hydrochloride (DH) is the purpose of this study. DH received approval for atrial fibrillation treatment and its cardiovascular protective effects were already reported. In this study, DH significantly increased EPC proliferation, tube formation, migration, and maintained EPCs surface marker expression. In addition, DH treatment up-regulated the phosphorylation of AKT and reduced the reactive oxygen species production. In summary, the cell priming by DH considerably improved the functional activity of EPCs, and the use of which might be a novel strategy for CVD treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor undergo uncontrolled, excessive proliferation leads to hypoxic microenvironment. To fulfill their demand for nutrient, and oxygen, tumor angiogenesis is required. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been known to the main source of angiogenesis because of their potential to differentiation into endothelial cells. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of EPC-mediated angiogenesis in hypoxia is critical for development of cancer therapy. Recently, mitochondrial dynamics has emerged as a critical mechanism for cellular function and differentiation under hypoxic conditions. However, the role of mitochondrial dynamics in hypoxia-induced angiogenesis remains to be elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that hypoxiainduced mitochondrial fission accelerates EPCs bioactivities. We first investigated the effect of hypoxia on EPC-mediated angiogenesis. Cell migration, invasion, and tube formation was significantly increased under hypoxic conditions; expression of EPC surface markers was unchanged. And mitochondrial fission was induced by hypoxia time-dependent manner. We found that hypoxia-induced mitochondrial fission was triggered by dynamin-related protein Drp1, specifically, phosphorylated DRP1 at Ser637, a suppression marker for mitochondrial fission, was impaired in hypoxia timedependent manner. To confirm the role of DRP1 in EPC-mediated angiogenesis, we analyzed cell bioactivities using Mdivi-1, a selective DRP1 inhibitor, and DRP1 siRNA. DRP1 silencing or Mdivi-1 treatment dramatically reduced cell migration, invasion, and tube formation in EPCs, but the expression of EPC surface markers was unchanged. In conclusion, we uncovered a novel role of mitochondrial fission in hypoxia-induced angiogenesis. Therefore, we suggest that specific modulation of DRP1-mediated mitochondrial dynamics may be a potential therapeutic strategy in EPC-mediated tumor angiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doxorubicin (DOXO) is widely used to treat solid tumors. However, its clinical use is limited by side effects including serious cardiotoxicity due to cardiomyocyte damage. Resident cardiac progenitor cells (hCPCs) act as key regulators of homeostasis in myocardial cells. However, little is known about the function of hCPCs in DOXO-induced cardiotoxicity. In this study, we found that DOXO-mediated hCPC toxicity is closely related to calcium-related autophagy signaling and was significantly attenuated by blocking mTOR signaling in human hCPCs. DOXO induced hCPC apoptosis with reduction of SMP30 (regucalcin) and autophagosome marker LC3, as well as remarkable induction of the autophagy-related markers, Beclin-1, APG7, and P62/SQSTM1 and induction of calcium-related molecules, CaM (Calmodulin) and CaMKII (Calmodulin kinase II). The results of an LC3 puncta assay further indicated that DOXO reduced autophagosome formation via accumulation of cytosolic Ca2+. Additionally, DOXO significantly induced mTOR expression in hCPCs, and inhibition of mTOR signaling by rapamycin, a specific inhibitor, rescued DOXO-mediated autophagosome depletion in hCPCs with significant reduction of DOXO-mediated cytosolic Ca2+ accumulation in hCPCs, and restored SMP30 and mTOR expression. Thus, DOXO-mediated hCPC toxicity is linked to Ca2+-related autophagy signaling, and inhibition of mTOR signaling may provide a cardio-protective effect against DOXO-mediated hCPC toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]