PVDomics research has led to two new peer-reviewed research papers that redefine how pulmonary hypertension (PH) is classified in terms of disease severity.
The papers are based on data from “Redefining Pulmonary Hypertension through Pulmonary Vascular Disease Phenomics (PVDomics),” a study designed to provide in-depth classification of pulmonary hypertension and patients with pulmonary vascular disease. Patients from seven PH care centers participated in the PVDomics study funded by the National Institutes of Health and Pulmonary Hypertension Association. Anna Hemnes, M.D., of Vanderbilt University, is among the principal investigators of the PVDomics study. She is chair of PHA’s Scientific Leadership Council and a member of the PHA Board of Trustees.
In “Iron deficiency in pulmonary vascular disease: pathophysiological and clinical implications,” Pieter Martens, M.D., and colleagues examine the relationship between iron deficiency and cardiac and pulmonary vascular function and structure and outcomes. The researchers evaluated two definitions of iron deficiency. The conventional definition didn’t identify patients with lower exercise capacity or functional status, while the new definition detected patients with lower exercise capacity and worsening functional status, cardiac structure and clinical outcomes. The results suggest that redefining how iron deficiency is determined in people with PH may better correlate with disease severity. The paper appeared in the June 7 European Heart Journal.
A June 19 article in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatology compared metabolomic differences in connective tissue disease-associated PH to PAH. The authors, Catherine Simpson, M.D. and colleagues, suggest that differences in metabolism could explain why people with CTD-related PAH benefit less from pulmonary vasodilator therapies than people with IPAH. People with CTD-related PH had abnormal fatty acid lipid metabolism. Dr. Simpson received a 2022 PHA grant for early career researchers.
