Resumen de Nebulized anticoagulants as a therapy for acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an acute respiratory failure with a global incidence in Europe of 17.9 per 100,000 person-year. Although significant advances have been performed in supportive care of patients with ARDS, mortality remains high (40%) and survivors present persistent sequelae. An effective pharmacological therapy for this syndrome is not available yet.
ARDS pathophysiology involves pulmonary activated coagulation and inflammation together with the breakdown of the alveolar-capillary barrier. This leads to proteinaceous edema, neutrophils infiltration into the alveolar compartment and the activation of macrophages towards a pro-inflammatory phenotype.
Beneficial effects of anti-coagulants have been proved in pre-clinical models of acute lung injury (ALI) and in ARDS patients, although systemic bleeding offset its positive effects. Anti-coagulants could be effective for their anti-inflammatory activity in addition to their anti-coagulant properties. Moreover, given the cross talk of these pathways and their influence on permeability, anti-coagulants could also restore the alveolar-capillary barrier. Nebulization of anti-coagulants directly into the alveolar compartment might increase local efficacy and decrease the risk of systemic bleeding.
The hypothesis of this thesis is that nebulized heparin and/or antithrombin (ATIII) limit the pro-inflammatory and pro-coagulant response in the lungs after ALI, also promoting the restoration of the alveolar-capillary barrier. The co-administration of both anti-coagulants directly into the lungs via nebulization produces a synergistic effect enhancing the properties of heparin and ATIII, reducing lung injury and avoiding the risk of systemic bleeding.
As part of this thesis we are showing the results of the action of heparin or ATIII in specific primary human injured cell lung populations and the direct administration of heparin and/or ATIII into the lungs by nebulization in a rat model of ALI.
Nebulized heparin and/or ATIII attenuated pulmonary inflammation and coagulation and did not produce systemic bleeding in the model of ALI. Treatment with nebulized heparin modulated alveolar macrophages through reducing TGF-β and NF-κB effectors and the coagulation pathway and decreased the recruitment of neutrophils into the alveolar space. Local administration of ATIII alone increased beneficial effects in coagulation, while combined ATIII and heparin had a higher impact reducing permeability and decreasing the infiltration of macrophages into the alveolar compartment. The translational action into humans of both anti-coagulants was also studied. In injured human cell lung populations isolated from lung biopsies, heparin diminished the expression of pro-inflammatory markers in alveolar macrophages and deactivated the NF-κB pathway in alveolar type II cells; decreasing the expression of its mediators and effectors. Also, ATIII decreased levels of pro-inflammatory mediators and increased levels of tight junctions in injured alveolar type II cells.
The current studies prove that nebulized heparin and ATIII might be a potential treatment for ARDS, as they act in different pathways and processes of the pathophysiology of this syndrome. Local administration of anti-coagulants attenuates lung injury decreasing inflammation, coagulation and proving ameliorations on permeability without causing systemic bleeding.
