Deficiency of Axl aggravates pulmonary arterial hypertension via BMPR2

Novoyatleva et al investigate the role of receptor tyrosine kinase Axl in Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), finding that the small molecule inhibitor R428 reduces human pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells proliferation and migration, but causes toxicity in human pulmonary arterial endothelial cells. They further show that Axl enhances endothelial BMPR2 signaling, altogether providing insights into mechanisms of PAH.