Regulation of tissue factor pathway inhibitor expression in smooth muscle cells

Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) is the primary physiological inhibitor that regulates tissue factor-induced blood coagulation. TFPI is thought to be synthesized, in vivo, primarily by microvascular endothelial cells. Little is known about how TFPI is regulated under pathophysiological conditions. In this study, we determined mechanisms by which TFPI expression is regulated by human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMC), because these cells contribute to remodeling of the pulmonary vasculature in disease. PASMC in culture constitutively synthesize and secrete TFPI. Exposure of PASMC to phorbol myristate acetate, lipopolysaccharide, tumor necrosis factor alpha, thrombin, interleukin-1, and transforming growth factor-beta had no significant effect on expression of TFPI by PASMC. By contrast, treatment of PASMC with serum and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)/heparin markedly upregulated the expression of TFPI activity and antigen. On Western blot analysis, a protein consistent with full-length TFPI (42 kD) was identified in the conditioned media of PASMC, and the levels of the protein were much higher in the conditioned media of serum and bFGF/heparin-treated cells. Northern blot analysis showed that PASMC constitutively express TFPI mRNA, and treatment of cells with serum and bFGF/heparin had a minimal effect on the steady-state levels of TFPI mRNA. Nuclear run-on analysis did not show a significant increase in the transcriptional rate of TFPI gene in PASMC treated with serum or bFGF/heparin. Cycloheximide, but not actinomycin-D, treatment inhibited the serum and bFGF/heparin-induced increase in TFPI activity in PASMC. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that PASMC constitutively synthesize and secrete TFPI and serum or bFGF upregulate its expression, suggesting that growth factors that can stimulate the vessel wall in vivo might locally regulate TFPI expression. Our study also suggests that control of TFPI expression by serum or bFGF occurs via translational rather than transcriptional regulation.