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Background: Although the pathophysiological mechanisms of arterial hypertension are different in obese and lean patients, hypertension guidelines do not include specific recommendations for obesity-related hypertension and, therefore, there is a considerable uncertainty on which antihypertensive drugs should be used in this condition. Moreover, studies performed in general population suggested that some antihypertensive drugs may increase body weight, glycemia and LDL-cholesterol but it is unclear how this impact on drug choice in clinical practice in the treatment of obese hypertensive patients. Therefore, in order to identify current preferences of practitioners for obesity-related hypertension, in the present work we evaluated antihypertensive drug therapy in a cohort of 129 pharmacologically treated obese hypertensive patients (46 males and 83 females, aged 51.95 ± 10.1 years) that came to our observation for a nutritional consultation., Methods: Study design was retrospective observational. Differences in the prevalence of use of the different antihypertensive drug classes among groups were evaluated with χ(2) square analysis. Threshold for statistical significance was set at p < 0.05., Results: 41.1 % of the study sample was treated with one, 36.4 % with two and the remaining 22.5 % with three or more antihypertensive drugs. In patients under single drug therapy, β-blockers, ACEIs and ARBs accounted each for about 25 % of prescriptions. The prevalence of use of β-blockers was about sixfold higher in females than males. Diuretics were virtually never used in monotherapy regimens but were used in more than 60 % of patients on dual antihypertensive therapy and in all patients assuming three or more drugs. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of use of any of the aforementioned drugs among patients with obesity of type I, II and III or between patients with or without metabolic syndrome., Conclusions: Our data show that no first choice protocol seems to be adopted in clinical practice for the treatment of obesity-related hypertension. Importantly, physicians do not seem to differentiate drug use according to the severity of obesity or to the presence of metabolic syndrome or to avoid drugs known to detrimentally affect body weight and metabolic profile in general population.

Bovine papillomavirus types 1 or 2 (BPV-1/2) are involved in the aetiopathogenesis of bovine urinary bladder cancer. BPV-1/2 E5 activates the platelet-derived growth factor β receptor (PDGFβR). The aim of this study was to analyse the Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in relation to activation of PDGFβR in natural bovine urinary bladder carcinomas. Co-immunoprecipitation and Western blot analysis demonstrated that recruitment of growth factor receptor bound protein 2 (GRB-2) and Sos-1 to the activated PDGFβR was increased in carcinomas compared to normal tissues. Higher grade bovine urinary bladder carcinomas were associated with activation of Ras, but not with activation of downstream mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Mek 1/2) or extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk 1/2)., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Studies regarding the functions of the bovine papillomavirus (BPV) E7 oncoprotein in vivo are lacking and no E7-mediated mechanism underlying mesenchymal carcinogenesis is known. Here, we show that the interaction between the 600 kDa retinoblastoma protein-associated factor (p600) and BPV E7, described in vitro in cultured cells, takes place in vivo in naturally occurring equine sarcoids. In these cancers we detect the expression of E7 and p600, and demonstrate that E7 and p600 co-localize and physically interact. Furthermore, intracellular signals involved in p600 functional activity are found not to be overexpressed, suggesting a different functional activity of p600 in naturally occurring carcinogenesis. Our results demonstrate, for the first time, that E7-p600 interaction occurs during the natural history of BPV-induced equine tumours, suggesting an important role for E7 in carcinogenesis. Finally, the system provides a suitable animal model of papillomavirus-associated cancer to test therapeutic vaccination against E7.