Arterial remodeling in hypertension and intimal hyperplasia involves inflammation and disrupted flow, both of which contribute to smooth muscle cell dedifferentiation and proliferation. In this context, our previous results identified phosphoinositide 3-kinase gamma (PI3Kγ) as an essential factor in inflammatory processes of the arterial wall. Here, we identified for the first time a kinase-independent role of nonhematopoietic PI3Kγ in the vascular wall during intimal hyperplasia using PI3Kγ deleted mice and mice expressing a kinase-dead version of the enzyme. Moreover, we found that the absence of PI3Kγ in VSMCs leads to the modulation of cell proliferation associated with an increase in intracellular cAMP levels. Real-time analysis of cAMP dynamics revealed that PI3Kγ modulates the degradation of cAMP in primary vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) independent of its kinase activity through the regulation of the phosphodiesterase (PDE) 4 enzyme. Importantly, the use of an N-terminal competing peptide of PI3Kγ blocked primary VSMC proliferation. These data provide evidence for a kinase-independent role of PI3Kγ in arterial remodeling and reveal novel strategies targeting the docking function of PI3Kγ for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
© 2020. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

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