Browsing by Author "Gladwin, Mark T."
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Item The CYB5R3c.350C>G and G6PD A alleles modify severity of anemia in malaria and sickle cell disease(Wiley, 2020-11) Gordeuk, Victor R.; Shah, Binal N.; Zhang, Xu; Thuma, Philip E.; Zulu, Stenford; Moono, Rodgers; Reading, N. Scott; Song, Jihyun; Zhang, Yingze; Nouraie, Mehdi; Campbell, Andrew; Minniti, Caterina P.; Rana, Sohail R.; Darbari, Deepika S.; Kato, Gregory J.; Niu, Mei; Castro, Oswaldo L.; Machado, Roberto; Gladwin, Mark T.; Prchal, Josef T.; Medicine, School of MedicineGenetic modifiers of anemia in Plasmodium falciparum infection and sickle cell disease (SCD) are not fully known. Both conditions are associated with oxidative stress, hemolysis and anemia. The CYB5R3 gene encodes cytochrome b5 reductase 3, which converts methemoglobin to hemoglobin through oxidation of NADH. CYB5R3c.350C > G encoding CYB5R3T117S , the most frequent recognized African-specific polymorphism, does not have known functional significance, but its high allele frequency (23% in African Americans) suggests a selection advantage. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is essential for protection from oxidants; its African-polymorphic X-linked A+ and A- alleles, and other variants with reduced activity, coincide with endemic malaria distribution, suggesting protection from lethal infection. We examined the association of CYB5R3c.350C > G with severe anemia (hemoglobin <5 g/dL) in the context of G6PD A+ and A- status among 165 Zambian children with malaria. CYB5R3c.350C > G offered protection against severe malarial anemia in children without G6PD deficiency (G6PD wild type or A+/A- heterozygotes) (odds ratio 0.29, P = .022) but not in G6PD A+ or A- hemizygotes/homozygotes. We also examined the relationship of CYB5R3c.350C > G with hemoglobin concentration among 267 children and 321 adults and adolescents with SCD in the US and UK and found higher hemoglobin in SCD patients without G6PD deficiency (β = 0.29, P = .022 children; β = 0.33, P = .004 adults). Functional studies in SCD erythrocytes revealed mildly lower activity of native CYB5R3T117S compared to wildtype CYB5R3 and higher NADH/NAD+ ratios. In conclusion, CYB5R3c.350C > G appears to ameliorate anemia severity in malaria and SCD patients without G6PD deficiency, possibly accounting for CYB5R3c.350C > G selection and its high prevalence.Item Diagnosis and Treatment of Right Heart Failure in Pulmonary Vascular Diseases: A National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Workshop(American Heart Association, 2021) Leopold, Jane A.; Kawut, Steven M.; Aldred, Micheala A.; Archer, Stephen L.; Benza, Ray L.; Bristow, Michael R.; Brittain, Evan L.; Chesler, Naomi; DeMan, Frances S.; Erzurum, Serpil C.; Gladwin, Mark T.; Hassoun, Paul M.; Hemnes, Anna R.; Lahm, Tim; Lima, Joao A. C.; Loscalzo, Joseph; Maron, Bradley A.; Mercer Rosa, Laura; Newman, John H.; Redline, Susan; Rich, Stuart; Rischard, Franz; Sugeng, Lissa; Tang, W. H. Wilson; Tedford, Ryan J.; Tsai, Emily J.; Ventetuolo, Corey E.; Zhou, YouYang; Aggarwal, Neil R.; Xiao, Lei; Medicine, School of MedicineRight ventricular dysfunction is a hallmark of advanced pulmonary vascular, lung parenchymal, and left heart disease, yet the underlying mechanisms that govern (mal)adaptation remain incompletely characterized. Owing to the knowledge gaps in our understanding of the right ventricle (RV) in health and disease, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) commissioned a working group to identify current challenges in the field. These included a need to define and standardize normal RV structure and function in populations; access to RV tissue for research purposes and the development of complex experimental platforms that recapitulate the in vivo environment; and the advancement of imaging and invasive methodologies to study the RV within basic, translational, and clinical research programs. Specific recommendations were provided, including a call to incorporate precision medicine and innovations in prognosis, diagnosis, and novel RV therapeutics for patients with pulmonary vascular disease.Item Exercise Induced Changes of Vital Signs in Adults with Sickle Cell Disease(Wiley, 2021) Johnson, Solomon; Gordeuk, Victor R.; Machado, Roberto; Gibbs, J. Simon R.; Hildesheim, Mariana; Little, Jane A.; Kato, Gregory J.; Gladwin, Mark T.; Nouraie, Mehdi; Medicine, School of MedicineThe six-minute walk test (6MWT) has been used in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), in conjunction with tricuspid regurgitant velocity (TRV) and plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP), to assess risk of having pulmonary hypertension. Exercise-induced vital sign changes (VSCs) are predictors of clinical outcomes in other diseases. In this study, we assess the predictors and prognostic value of 6MWT VSC in adult SCD patients. Data from a multinational study of SCD patients (Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension with Sildenafil: walk-PHaSST) were used to calculate the 6MWT VSC. Predictors of VSC were identified by a multivariable analysis, and a survival analysis was conducted by the Cox proportional hazard method. An increase in heart rate was observed in 90% of the 630 SCD adults, 77% of patients had an increase in systolic blood pressure (SBP), and 50% of patients had a decrease in oxygen saturation. TRV (odds ratio [OR] = 1.82, p = .020), absolute reticulocyte count (OR = 1.03, p < .001), and hemoglobin (OR = 0.99, p = .035) predicted oxygen desaturation ≥ 3% during the 6MWT. In the adjusted analysis, SBP increase during the 6MWT was associated with improved survival (hazards ratio = 0.3, 95% confidence interval: 0.1-0.8). Increases in heart rate and blood pressure, as well as oxygen desaturation, are common in adults with SCD during the 6MWT. VSC is associated with markers of anemia and TRV and can be used for risk stratification. Any increase in SBP during the 6MWT was associated with improved survival and may be indicative of a patient's ability to increase stroke volume.Item Frataxin deficiency promotes endothelial senescence in pulmonary hypertension(The American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2021-06-01) Culley, Miranda K.; Zhao, Jingsi; Tai, Yi Yin; Tang, Ying; Perk, Dror; Negi, Vinny; Yu, Qiujun; Woodcock, Chen-Shan C.; Handen, Adam; Speyer, Gil; Kim, Seungchan; Lai, Yen-Chun; Satoh, Taijyu; Watson, Annie M.M.; Al Aaraj, Yassmin; Sembrat, John; Rojas, Mauricio; Goncharov, Dmitry; Goncharova, Elena A.; Khan, Omar F.; Anderson, Daniel G.; Dahlman, James E.; Gurkar, Aditi U.; Lafyatis, Robert; Fayyaz, Ahmed U.; Redfield, Margaret M.; Gladwin, Mark T.; Rabinovitch, Marlene; Gu, Mingxia; Bertero, Thomas; Chan, Stephen Y.; Medicine, School of MedicineThe dynamic regulation of endothelial pathophenotypes in pulmonary hypertension (PH) remains undefined. Cellular senescence is linked to PH with intracardiac shunts; however, its regulation across PH subtypes is unknown. Since endothelial deficiency of iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters is pathogenic in PH, we hypothesized that a Fe-S biogenesis protein, frataxin (FXN), controls endothelial senescence. An endothelial subpopulation in rodent and patient lungs across PH subtypes exhibited reduced FXN and elevated senescence. In vitro, hypoxic and inflammatory FXN deficiency abrogated activity of endothelial Fe-S–containing polymerases, promoting replication stress, DNA damage response, and senescence. This was also observed in stem cell–derived endothelial cells from Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA), a genetic disease of FXN deficiency, ataxia, and cardiomyopathy, often with PH. In vivo, FXN deficiency–dependent senescence drove vessel inflammation, remodeling, and PH, whereas pharmacologic removal of senescent cells in Fxn-deficient rodents ameliorated PH. These data offer a model of endothelial biology in PH, where FXN deficiency generates a senescent endothelial subpopulation, promoting vascular inflammatory and proliferative signals in other cells to drive disease. These findings also establish an endothelial etiology for PH in FRDA and left heart disease and support therapeutic development of senolytic drugs, reversing effects of Fe-S deficiency across PH subtypes.Item Insights into the pulmonary vascular complications of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction(Wiley, 2019-02) Lai, Yen‐Chun; Wang, Longfei; Gladwin, Mark T.; Medicine, School of MedicinePulmonary hypertension in the setting of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (PH-HFpEF) is a growing public health problem that is increasing in prevalence. While PH-HFpEF is defined by a high mean pulmonary artery pressure, high left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and a normal ejection fraction, some HFpEF patients develop PH in the presence of pulmonary vascular remodelling with a high transpulmonary pressure gradient or pulmonary vascular resistance. Ageing, increased left atrial pressure and stiffness, mitral regurgitation, as well as features of metabolic syndrome, which include obesity, diabetes and hypertension, are recognized as risk factors for PH-HFpEF. Qualitative studies have documented that patients with PH-HFpEF develop more severe symptoms than those with HFpEF and are associated with more significant exercise intolerance, frequent hospitalizations, right heart failure and reduced survival. Currently, there are no effective therapies for PH-HFpEF, although a number of candidate drugs are being evaluated, including soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, sodium nitrite and endothelin receptor antagonists. In this review we attempt to provide an updated overview of recent findings pertaining to the pulmonary vascular complications in HFpEF in terms of clinical definitions, epidemiology and pathophysiology. Mechanisms leading to pulmonary vascular remodelling in HFpEF, a summary of pre-clinical models of HFpEF and PH-HFpEF, and new candidate therapeutic strategies for the treatment of PH-HFpEF are summarized.Item Metabolic Syndrome Mediates ROS-miR-193b-NFYA-Dependent Downregulation of Soluble Guanylate Cyclase and Contributes to Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction(American Heart Association, 2021) Satoh, Taijyu; Wang, Longfei; Espinosa-Diez, Cristina; Wang, Bing; Hahn, Scott A.; Noda, Kentaro; Rochon, Elizabeth R.; Dent, Matthew R.; Levine, Andrea; Baust, Jeffrey J.; Wyman, Samuel; Wu, Yijen L.; Triantafyllou, Georgios A.; Tang, Ying; Reynolds, Mike; Shiva, Sruti; St. Hilaire, Cynthia; Gomez, Delphine; Goncharov, Dmitry A.; Goncharova, Elena A.; Chan, Stephen Y.; Straub, Adam C.; Lai, Yen-Chun; McTiernan, Charles F.; Gladwin, Mark T.; Medicine, School of MedicineBackground: Many patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction have metabolic syndrome and develop exercise-induced pulmonary hypertension (EIPH). Increases in pulmonary vascular resistance in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction portend a poor prognosis; this phenotype is referred to as combined precapillary and postcapillary pulmonary hypertension (CpcPH). Therapeutic trials for EIPH and CpcPH have been disappointing, suggesting the need for strategies that target upstream mechanisms of disease. This work reports novel rat EIPH models and mechanisms of pulmonary vascular dysfunction centered around the transcriptional repression of the soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) enzyme in pulmonary artery (PA) smooth muscle cells. Methods: We used obese ZSF-1 leptin-receptor knockout rats (heart failure with preserved ejection fraction model), obese ZSF-1 rats treated with SU5416 to stimulate resting pulmonary hypertension (obese+sugen, CpcPH model), and lean ZSF-1 rats (controls). Right and left ventricular hemodynamics were evaluated using implanted catheters during treadmill exercise. PA function was evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging and myography. Overexpression of nuclear factor Y α subunit (NFYA), a transcriptional enhancer of sGC β1 subunit (sGCβ1), was performed by PA delivery of adeno-associated virus 6. Treatment groups received the SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin in drinking water. PA smooth muscle cells from rats and humans were cultured with palmitic acid, glucose, and insulin to induce metabolic stress. Results: Obese rats showed normal resting right ventricular systolic pressures, which significantly increased during exercise, modeling EIPH. Obese+sugen rats showed anatomic PA remodeling and developed elevated right ventricular systolic pressure at rest, which was exacerbated with exercise, modeling CpcPH. Myography and magnetic resonance imaging during dobutamine challenge revealed PA functional impairment of both obese groups. PAs of obese rats produced reactive oxygen species and decreased sGCβ1 expression. Mechanistically, cultured PA smooth muscle cells from obese rats and humans with diabetes or treated with palmitic acid, glucose, and insulin showed increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, which enhanced miR-193b-dependent RNA degradation of nuclear factor Y α subunit (NFYA), resulting in decreased sGCβ1-cGMP signaling. Forced NYFA expression by adeno-associated virus 6 delivery increased sGCβ1 levels and improved exercise pulmonary hypertension in obese+sugen rats. Treatment of obese+sugen rats with empagliflozin improved metabolic syndrome, reduced mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and miR-193b levels, restored NFYA/sGC activity, and prevented EIPH. Conclusions: In heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and CpcPH models, metabolic syndrome contributes to pulmonary vascular dysfunction and EIPH through enhanced reactive oxygen species and miR-193b expression, which downregulates NFYA-dependent sGCβ1 expression. Adeno-associated virus-mediated NFYA overexpression and SGLT2 inhibition restore NFYA-sGCβ1-cGMP signaling and ameliorate EIPH.Item Relaxin Inhibits Ventricular Arrhythmia and Asystole in Rats With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension(Frontiers Media, 2021-07-06) Martin, Brian; Vanderpool, Rebecca R.; Henry, Brian L.; Palma, Joshua B.; Gabris, Beth; Lai, Yen-Chun; Hu, Jian; Tofovic, Stevan P.; Reddy, Rajiv P.; Mora, Ana L.; Gladwin, Mark T.; Romero, Guillermo; Salama, Guy; Medicine, School of MedicinePulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) leads to right ventricular cardiomyopathy and cardiac dysfunctions where in the clinical setting, cardiac arrest is the likely cause of death, in ~70% of PAH patients. We investigated the cardiac phenotype of PAH hearts and tested the hypothesis that the insulin-like hormone, Relaxin could prevent maladaptive cardiac remodeling and protect against cardiac dysfunctions in a PAH animal model. PAH was induced in rats with sugen (20 mg/kg), hypoxia then normoxia (3-weeks/each); relaxin (RLX = 0, 30 or 400 μg/kg/day, n ≥ 6/group) was delivered subcutaneously (6-weeks) with implanted osmotic mini-pumps. Right ventricle (RV) hemodynamics and Doppler-flow measurements were followed by cardiac isolation, optical mapping, and arrhythmia phenotype. Sugen-hypoxia (SuHx) treated rats developed PAH characterized by higher RV systolic pressures (50 ± 19 vs. 22 ± 5 mmHg), hypertrophy, reduced stroke volume, ventricular fibrillation (VF) (n = 6/11) and bradycardia/arrest (n = 5/11); both cardiac phenotypes were suppressed with dithiothreitol (DTT = 1 mM) (n = 0/2/group) or RLX (low or high dose, n = 0/6/group). PAH hearts developed increased fibrosis that was reversed by RLX-HD, but not RLX-LD. Relaxin decreased Nrf2 and glutathione transferases but not glutathione-reductase. High-dose RLX improved pulmonary arterial compliance (measured by Doppler flow), suppressed VF even after burst-pacing, n = 2/6). Relaxin suppressed VF and asystole through electrical remodeling and by reversing thiol oxidative stress. For the first time, we showed two cardiac phenotypes in PAH animals and their prevention by RLX. Relaxin may modulate maladaptive cardiac remodeling in PAH and protect against arrhythmia and cardiac arrest.Item Sequencing of 53,831 diverse genomes from the NHLBI TOPMed Program(Springer Nature, 2021) Taliun, Daniel; Harris, Daniel N.; Kessler, Michael D.; Carlson, Jedidiah; Szpiech, Zachary A.; Torres, Raul; Gagliano Taliun, Sarah A.; Corvelo, André; Gogarten, Stephanie M.; Kang, Hyun Min; Pitsillides, Achilleas N.; LeFaive, Jonathon; Lee, Seung-Been; Tian, Xiaowen; Browning, Brian L.; Das, Sayantan; Emde, Anne-Katrin; Clarke, Wayne E.; Loesch, Douglas P.; Shetty, Amol C.; Blackwell, Thomas W.; Smith, Albert V.; Wong, Quenna; Liu, Xiaoming; Conomos, Matthew P.; Bobo, Dean M.; Aguet, François; Albert, Christine; Alonso, Alvaro; Ardlie, Kristin G.; Arking, Dan E.; Aslibekyan, Stella; Auer, Paul L.; Barnard, John; Barr, R. Graham; Barwick, Lucas; Becker, Lewis C.; Beer, Rebecca L.; Benjamin, Emelia J.; Bielak, Lawrence F.; Blangero, John; Boehnke, Michael; Bowden, Donald W.; Brody, Jennifer A.; Burchard, Esteban G.; Cade, Brian E.; Casella, James F.; Chalazan, Brandon; Chasman, Daniel I.; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Cho, Michael H.; Choi, Seung Hoan; Chung, Mina K.; Clish, Clary B.; Correa, Adolfo; Curran, Joanne E.; Custer, Brian; Darbar, Dawood; Daya, Michelle; de Andrade, Mariza; DeMeo, Dawn L.; Dutcher, Susan K.; Ellinor, Patrick T.; Emery, Leslie S.; Eng, Celeste; Fatkin, Diane; Fingerlin, Tasha; Forer, Lukas; Fornage, Myriam; Franceschini, Nora; Fuchsberger, Christian; Fullerton, Stephanie M.; Germer, Soren; Gladwin, Mark T.; Gottlieb, Daniel J.; Guo, Xiuqing; Hall, Michael E.; He, Jiang; Heard-Costa, Nancy L.; Heckbert, Susan R.; Irvin, Marguerite R.; Johnsen, Jill M.; Johnson, Andrew D.; Kaplan, Robert; Kardia, Sharon L. R.; Kelly, Tanika; Kelly, Shannon; Kenny, Eimear E.; Kiel, Douglas P.; Klemmer, Robert; Konkle, Barbara A.; Kooperberg, Charles; Köttgen, Anna; Lange, Leslie A.; Lasky-Su, Jessica; Levy, Daniel; Lin, Xihong; Lin, Keng-Han; Liu, Chunyu; Loos, Ruth J. F.; Garman, Lori; Gerszten, Robert; Lubitz, Steven A.; Lunetta, Kathryn L.; Mak, Angel C. Y.; Manichaikul, Ani; Manning, Alisa K.; Mathias, Rasika A.; McManus, David D.; McGarvey, Stephen T.; Meigs, James B.; Meyers, Deborah A.; Mikulla, Julie L.; Minear, Mollie A.; Mitchell, Braxton D.; Mohanty, Sanghamitra; Montasser, May E.; Montgomery, Courtney; Morrison, Alanna C.; Murabito, Joanne M.; Natale, Andrea; Natarajan, Pradeep; Nelson, Sarah C.; North, Kari E.; O'Connell, Jeffrey R.; Palmer, Nicholette D.; Pankratz, Nathan; Peloso, Gina M.; Peyser, Patricia A.; Pleiness, Jacob; Post, Wendy S.; Psaty, Bruce M.; Rao, D. C.; Redline, Susan; Reiner, Alexander P.; Roden, Dan; Rotter, Jerome I.; Ruczinski, Ingo; Sarnowski, Chloé; Schoenherr, Sebastian; Schwartz, David A.; Seo, Jeong-Sun; Seshadri, Sudha; Sheehan, Vivien A.; Sheu, Wayne H.; Shoemaker, M. Benjamin; Smith, Nicholas L.; Smith, Jennifer A.; Sotoodehnia, Nona; Stilp, Adrienne M.; Tang, Weihong; Taylor, Kent D.; Telen, Marilyn; Thornton, Timothy A.; Tracy, Russell P.; Van Den Berg, David J.; Vasan, Ramachandran S.; Viaud-Martinez, Karine A.; Vrieze, Scott; Weeks, Daniel E.; Weir, Bruce S.; Weiss, Scott T.; Weng, Lu-Chen; Willer, Cristen J.; Zhang, Yingze; Zhao, Xutong; Arnett, Donna K.; Ashley-Koch, Allison E.; Barnes, Kathleen C.; Boerwinkle, Eric; Gabriel, Stacey; Gibbs, Richard; Rice, Kenneth M.; Rich, Stephen S.; Silverman, Edwin K.; Qasba, Pankaj; Gan, Weiniu; NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Consortium; Papanicolaou, George J.; Nickerson, Deborah A.; Browning, Sharon R.; Zody, Michael C.; Zöllner, Sebastian; Wilson, James G.; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Laurie, Cathy C.; Jaquish, Cashell E.; Hernandez, Ryan D.; O'Connor, Timothy D.; Abecasis, Gonçalo R.; Epidemiology, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public HealthThe Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) programme seeks to elucidate the genetic architecture and biology of heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders, with the ultimate goal of improving diagnosis, treatment and prevention of these diseases. The initial phases of the programme focused on whole-genome sequencing of individuals with rich phenotypic data and diverse backgrounds. Here we describe the TOPMed goals and design as well as the available resources and early insights obtained from the sequence data. The resources include a variant browser, a genotype imputation server, and genomic and phenotypic data that are available through dbGaP (Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes)1. In the first 53,831 TOPMed samples, we detected more than 400 million single-nucleotide and insertion or deletion variants after alignment with the reference genome. Additional previously undescribed variants were detected through assembly of unmapped reads and customized analysis in highly variable loci. Among the more than 400 million detected variants, 97% have frequencies of less than 1% and 46% are singletons that are present in only one individual (53% among unrelated individuals). These rare variants provide insights into mutational processes and recent human evolutionary history. The extensive catalogue of genetic variation in TOPMed studies provides unique opportunities for exploring the contributions of rare and noncoding sequence variants to phenotypic variation. Furthermore, combining TOPMed haplotypes with modern imputation methods improves the power and reach of genome-wide association studies to include variants down to a frequency of approximately 0.01%.Item Treatment With Treprostinil and Metformin Normalizes Hyperglycemia and Improves Cardiac Function in Pulmonary Hypertension Associated With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction(American Heart Association, 2020-06) Wang, Longfei; Halliday, Gunner; Huot, Joshua R.; Satoh, Taijyu; Baust, Jeff J.; Fisher, Amanda; Cook, Todd; Hu, Jian; Avolio, Theodore; Goncharov, Dmitry A.; Bai, Yang; Vanderpool, Rebecca R.; Considine, Robert V.; Bonetto, Andrea; Tan, Jiangning; Bachman, Timothy N.; Sebastiani, Andrea; Mora, Ana L.; Machado, Roberto F.; Goncharova, Elena A.; Gladwin, Mark T.; Lai, Yen-Chun; Surgery, School of MedicineObjective: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to left heart disease (group 2), especially in the setting of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), is the most common cause of PH worldwide; however, at present, there is no proven effective therapy available for its treatment. PH-HFpEF is associated with insulin resistance and features of metabolic syndrome. The stable prostacyclin analog, treprostinil, is an effective and widely used Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. While the effect of treprostinil on metabolic syndrome is unknown, a recent study suggests that the prostacyclin analog beraprost can improve glucose intolerance and insulin sensitivity. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of treprostinil in the treatment of metabolic syndrome-associated PH-HFpEF. Approach and Results: Treprostinil treatment was given to mice with mild metabolic syndrome-associated PH-HFpEF induced by high-fat diet and to SU5416/obese ZSF1 rats, a model created by the treatment of rats with a more profound metabolic syndrome due to double leptin receptor defect (obese ZSF1) with a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor blocker SU5416. In high-fat diet-exposed mice, chronic treatment with treprostinil reduced hyperglycemia and pulmonary hypertension. In SU5416/Obese ZSF1 rats, treprostinil improved hyperglycemia with similar efficacy to that of metformin (a first-line drug for type 2 diabetes mellitus); the glucose-lowering effect of treprostinil was further potentiated by the combined treatment with metformin. Early treatment with treprostinil in SU5416/Obese ZSF1 rats lowered pulmonary pressures, and a late treatment with treprostinil together with metformin improved pulmonary artery acceleration time to ejection time ratio and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion with AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) activation in skeletal muscle and the right ventricle. Conclusions: Our data suggest a potential use of treprostinil as an early treatment for mild metabolic syndrome-associated PH-HFpEF and that combined treatment with treprostinil and metformin may improve hyperglycemia and cardiac function in a more severe disease.