JANEX-1 improves acute pulmonary embolism through VEGF and FAK in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells.

IMPACT STATEMENT: Accumulating evidence suggests that vascular remodeling due to immoderate proliferation and migration of SMCs is a common process occurring in APE. In this work, we tried to find a breakthrough in the pathological mechanism to alleviate the prognosis of APE by improving SMCs proliferation and explored the effect of JANEX-1 on PDGF-induced proliferation-related molecules in PVSMCs and assessed the therapeutic potential of JAK3 for vascular remodeling in APE mice. We demonstrated that JANEX-1, blocking JAK3 expression or activity, reduced JAK3/STAT3 signaling pathway, VEGF expression and FAK activation, and PDGF-induced proliferation of PVSMCs. Moreover, JANEX-1 inhibited the thrombus-induced intimal hyperplasia and the expression of VEGF and FAK activation in neointimal SMCs of APE mice. The data are helpful to elucidate the pharmacological mechanism and potential therapeutic effect of JANEX-1 in APE.