TY - JOUR T1 - Culture of Pulmonary Arterial Endothelial Cells from Pulmonary Artery Catheter Balloon Tips: Considerations for Use in Pulmonary Vascular Disease JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.01313-2019 SP - 1901313 AU - Corey E. Ventetuolo AU - Jason M. Aliotta AU - Julie Braza AU - Havovi Chichger AU - Mark Dooner AU - Donald McGuirl AU - Christopher J. Mullin AU - Julie Newton AU - Mandy Pereira AU - Amy Princiotto AU - Peter J. Quesenberry AU - Thomas Walsh AU - Mary Whittenhall AU - James R. Klinger AU - Elizabeth O. Harrington Y1 - 2020/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2019/12/12/13993003.01313-2019.abstract N2 - Endothelial dysfunction is a hallmark of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) but there are no established methods to study pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) from living patients. We sought to culture PAECs from pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) balloons used during right heart catheterisation (RHC), to characterise successful culture attempts and to describe PAEC behavior.PAECs were grown in primary culture to confluence and endothelial cell phenotype confirmed. Standard assays for apoptosis, migration, and tube formation were performed between passage 3–8. We collected 49 PAC tips from 45 subjects with successful PAEC culture from 19 (39%) balloons. There were no differences in subject demographic or RHC procedural details in successful versus unsuccessful attempts. There was a higher but nonsignificant proportion of successful (10/19, 53%) versus unsuccessful (9/30, 30%) attempts from subjects who met hemodynamic criteria for PAH (p=0.10). Successful culture was more likely in subjects with lower cardiac index (p=0.03) and higher pulmonary vascular resistance (p=0.04). PAECs from a subject with idiopathic PAH were apoptosis resistant compared to commercial PAECs (p=0.04) and had reduced migration compared to PAECs from a subject with portopulmonary hypertension with high cardiac output (p=0.01). PAECs from a subject with HIV-associated PAH formed fewer (p=0.01) and shorter (p=0.02) vessel networks compared to commercial PAECs.Sustained culture and characterisation of PAECs from RHC balloons is feasible, especially in PAH with high hemodynamic burden. This technique may provide insight into endothelial dysfunction during PAH pathogenesis.FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: Dr. Ventetuolo reports grants from National Institutes of Health , during the conduct of the study; grants from United Therapeutics and Eiger to her institution, personal fees from Acceleron Pharma, outside the submitted work; and Spouse is an employee of CVS Health.Conflict of interest: Dr. Aliotta has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Braza has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Chichger has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Dooner has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. McGuirl has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Mullin has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Newton has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Pereira has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Princiotto has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Quesenberry has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Walsh has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Whittenhall has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Klinger has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Harrington has nothing to disclose. ER -