Human Coronary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells: HCASMC, adult

Uses

vascular research, supply of blood to heart muscle

General Description

Human Coronary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells (HCASMC) provide an excellent model system to study all aspects of cardiovascular function and disease, especially those related to mechanisms of hyperplasia and hypertrophy of intimal smooth muscle cells leading to vascular occlusion in atherosclerosis and stent restenosis.

HCASMC has been utilized in a number of research studies, for example, to:

• Study signaling pathways regulating smooth muscle differentiation (Zhou, 2010); and chronic inflammation of arterial wall that leads to artherosclerosis (Kiyan, 2014)
• Demonstrate that STAT-1 and STAT-3 regulate VEGF production in smooth muscle cells by having opposing effects on HIF-1α expression (Albasanz-Puig, 2012); study the mechanisms of hypoxia and reoxigenation injuries in by demonstrating increased production of ROS and inflammatory cytokines, and further showing that DHA is not beneficial in this type of injuries (Feng, 2012)
• Investigate the gene expression differences between smooth muscle cells from different arteries, underlying their differential response to injuries and proliferation stimuli (Lange, 2013)
• Suggest the hypermethylation of SOCS3 gene as the connection between TNF-α and IGF-1 released in response to mechanical injury during coronary intervention, and the induction of cytokines leading to intimal hyperplasia and restenosis (Dhar, 2013)
• Develop a novel VEGFR/MET-targeted inhibitor with improved antitumor efficacy and decreased toxicity (Fujita, 2013); and investigate novel therapies and drug combinations to achieve optimal target selectivity (Lehar, 2009; Wo-Wong, 2013)
• Develop elastic scaffolds for tissue engineering (Nivison-Smith, 2010, 2012) and novel treatment strategies to prevent stent restenosis by designing new materials (Crowder, 2012), or drug therapies to preferentially inhibit smooth muscle cell growth (O′Neill, 2009; Mociornita, 2013)