Emerging therapeutics in pulmonary hypertension

Abstract

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive and often fatal illness presenting with nonspecific symptoms of dyspnea, lower extremity edema, and exercise intolerance. Pathologically, endothelial dysfunction leads to abnormal intimal and smooth muscle proliferation along with reduced apoptosis, resulting in increased pulmonary vascular resistance and elevated pulmonary pressures. PH is subdivided into five World Health Organization groups based on the disease pathology and specific cause. While there are Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH; Group 1 PH), as well as for chronic thromboembolic PH (Group 4 PH), the morbidity and mortality remain high. Moreover, there are no approved therapies for other forms of PH (Groups 2, 3, and 5) at present. New research has identified molecular targets that mediate vasodilation, anti-inflammatory, and antifibrotic changes within the pulmonary vasculature. Given that PAH is the most commonly studied form of PH worldwide and because recent studies have led to better mechanistic understanding of this devastating disease, in this review we attempt to provide an updated overview of new therapeutic approaches under investigation for the treatment of PH, with a particular focus on PAH, as well as to offer guidelines for future investigations.