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Circulation. 1998;97:2506-2510

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(Circulation. 1998;97:2506-2510.)
© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.


Clinical Investigation and Reports

Vein Graft Stenosis and the Heparin Responsiveness of Human Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Jonathan S. Refson, MB; Michael Schachter, MB, BSc; Mahendra K. Patel, PhD; Alun D. Hughes, MB, PhD; Euan Munro, MD; Philip Chan, MD; John H. N. Wolfe, MS; ; Peter S. Sever, MB, PhD

From the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Imperial College School of Medicine, St Mary's Hospital (J.S.R., M.S., M.K.P., A.D.H., P.C., P.S.S.), and the Regional Vascular Unit (J.S.R., E.M., J.H.N.W.), St Mary's Hospital, London, UK.

Correspondence to Dr Michael Schachter, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, St Mary's Hospital, London W2 1NY UK. E-mail m.schachter{at}ic.ac.uk


*    Abstract
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*Abstract
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Background—Vascular smooth muscle cell (VMSC) proliferation is an essential component of myointimal hyperplasia, which is implicated in the failure of 30% to 50% of vascular interventions, such as coronary angioplasty and peripheral vein grafting. We have shown that cells derived from stenotic lesions in infrainguinal vein grafts were significantly more resistant than controls to growth inhibition by heparin.

Methods and Results—In a prospective study, we correlated antiproliferative responses to heparin in vitro with graft patency after 1 year. Sixty-two patients with infrainguinal vein grafts were entered into a graft surveillance program for >=1 year. At operation, saphenous vein segments were explanted for VSMC culture. Cell proliferation in response to fetal calf serum was later determined in the presence and absence of heparin. In 35 cell cultures, including 13 from the above-mentioned patients, [3H]heparin binding was also estimated. VSMCs from patients with patent grafts were significantly more sensitive to growth inhibition by heparin than cells from patients with stenoses (median, 54% versus 20.9%, P<0.001), and [3H]heparin binding was strongly correlated with inhibition of proliferation (r=0.81).

Conclusions—Responsiveness to heparin in cultured VSMCs is a strong predictor of outcome for infrainguinal vein grafts, and reduced sensitivity to heparin is correlated with decreased heparin binding. Relative resistance to the antiproliferative action of heparin may be a marker for aberrant regulation of VSMC growth.


Key Words: veins • grafting • stenosis • heparin


*    Introduction
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*Introduction
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Arterial stenosis or restenosis is one of the most important barriers to long-tem patency after arterial interventions such as coronary1 2 and peripheral3 angioplasty, percutaneous atherectomy,4 and coronary5 grafting. It is responsible for {approx}80% of all peripheral arterial bypass graft failures,6 resulting in the loss of {approx}30% of all arterial bypass grafts. MIH comprising VSMC proliferation (and migration) with deposition of extracellular matrix is one major cause of the stenoses that develop between 6 weeks and 1 year after vessel injury.7 However, it should also be appreciated that in {approx}50% of the affected vessels, remodeling without hyperplasia appears to be the cause of stenosis.8 9 10

Heparin was the first relatively specific antiproliferative agent shown to inhibit the growth of VSMCs both in vivo11 12 and in vitro.13 It remains unclear how heparin exerts its antiproliferative effect, but similar endogenous glycosaminoglycans, the heparan sulfates, exist in the extracellular matrix14 and are thought to be involved in phenotypic and growth regulation, helping to maintain VSMCs in a contractile, nonproliferative state.15 16 This is a property shared by heparin.17

In a previous report, we showed that VSMCs from patients with proven stenoses are relatively resistant to the antiproliferative effect of heparin18 and that VSMCs obtained from a variety of patients undergoing vein bypass procedures (cardiac or infrainguinal) exhibit a very wide range of responses to this antiproliferative action (0% to 80% inhibition). Among this group, {approx}30% are likely to develop MIH lesions severe enough to cause clinically significant graft stenoses.6 We therefore set up a prospective study to investigate whether the proliferative responses of cultured VSMCs to heparin predicted the subsequent development of infrainguinal graft stenoses.

In a second study, we explored a potential mechanism underlying the variation in responsiveness of human VSMCs to heparin. This was based on observations that suggested that the binding of heparin to VSMCs is required for its growth-inhibitory action.19 20 21 In the SHR, which demonstrates increased VSMC proliferation and vascular wall hypertrophy, cultured VSMCs have fewer heparin binding sites and less sensitivity to growth inhibition by heparin than normotensive WKY controls.19 To determine whether the mechanism of heparin resistance in human VSMCs is related to the extent of heparin binding to the cell surface, we analyzed the binding characteristics of radiolabeled heparin in cultured VSMCs and compared them with their growth responses to FCS in the presence and absence of heparin.


*    Methods
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Patients
Between January 1991 and October 1994, 62 patients undergoing infrainguinal (femoropopliteal) vein bypass each had a section of redundant vein graft removed at the time of initial surgery and were entered into a standardized graft surveillance program.22 Relevant demographic characteristics are summarized in the TableDown, subdivided according to clinical outcome. All patients were given heparin sodium 5000 U SC before surgery and a further 5000 U IV during the operation. An angiogram was performed on completion of surgery, followed by scanning of the graft with duplex Doppler ultrasound at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 1 year. If a stenosis was detected by ultrasound (in our unit, sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 98%, respectively),23 angiography was used for confirmation. All patent grafts were examined angiographically at 1 year. For the purposes of our analysis, graft stenosis was defined as a lesion developing between 6 weeks and 1 year after surgery, with a V2/V1 ratio >2 on duplex Doppler and a reduction in luminal diameter of >50% on angiography in comparison with the immediate postoperative measurement. All angiograms were independently reviewed at a joint surgical and radiological conference without prior knowledge of the results of the in vitro studies.


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Table 1. Clinical Details of Patients Included in Prospective Study

Cell Culture
Redundant sections of vein were taken from 62 patients at the time of initial infrainguinal bypass surgery in accordance with local Ethics Committee guidelines and transported to the laboratory in Hanks' balanced salt solution containing HEPES 25 mmol/L, penicillin 200 U/mL, streptomycin 200 µg/mL, kanamycin 100 µg/mL, and amphotericin B 1.25 µg/mL. Vein segments were explanted for cell culture within 24 hours of operation. All the veins used in this study were macroscopically normal, but no histological examination was carried out because all available tissue was used for cell culture.

VSMC cultures were prepared as previously described.24 Veins were carefully dissected to remove the adventitia, and the endothelium was scraped away with a blade, with care taken to minimize damage to the underlying media. The media, consisting almost exclusively of VSMCs,25 was cut into 1-mm squares. The resulting explants were placed in 80-cm2 tissue culture flasks in 5 mL of nutrient medium made up of DMEM buffered with 25 mmol/L HEPES supplemented with 15% (vol/vol) FCS, L-alanyl-L-glutamine 4 mmol/L, penicillin 100 U/mL, streptomycin 100 µg/mL, and gentamicin 25 µg/mL.

Cultures were incubated at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 (vol/vol) in air. Over a period of 2 to 6 weeks, VSMCs migrated from the explants and proliferated to form a confluent monolayer. At this stage, they were subcultured by trypsinization into a fresh flask. VSMCs were then further cultured and characterized by their typical "hill-and-valley" morphology and indirect immunofluorescence for {alpha}-actin, a marker for smooth muscle cells.26

Cell Proliferation Assay
To assay the inhibitory activity of heparin, VSMCs at second passage were trypsinized and seeded, as previously described,24 at a density of 104 cells/mL. A total volume of 1 mL/well was put into 24-well plates and allowed to attach overnight in standard medium containing 15% FCS. This medium was removed, and the cells were washed twice with PBS (without calcium and magnesium). The cells were maintained in medium supplemented with 0.4% FCS for 72 hours to arrest the cells in the G0 phase of the cell cycle. Growth stimulation was obtained with growth medium containing 15% FCS±7 µmol/L heparin. Triplicate wells were harvested by trypsinization and counted in an electronic particle counter (Coulter) on days 0, 3, 7, 10, and 14 after growth arrest. The growth medium in the remaining wells was replenished at the same time points. The net growth of VSMCs in 15% FCS containing growth medium±7 µmol/L heparin was calculated by subtracting the starting cell number (at the time the cells were released from G0) from the cell number on day 14. The percentage of heparin inhibition was determined by the following relationship: % heparin inhibition=[1-(net growth in 15% FCS+heparin/net growth in 15% FCS)]x100.

Heparin Binding Assay
Displacement curves of binding of [3H]-labeled heparin were performed as described by Castellot et al27 to characterize heparin binding in 25 human VSMC cultures. Cells were seeded at a density of 105 cells/mL, 1 mL/well, in 24-well plates and growth-arrested for 72 hours as described above. The cells were then cooled to 0°C to 4°C and washed with ice-cold PBS. Precooled solutions of [3H]hep-arin at 10-7 mol/L with various concentrations of unlabeled heparin (10-9 to 10-5 mol/L) were added to triplicate wells for 30 minutes and maintained on ice during the assay. (In 13 more cell cultures, specific binding was calculated with only 10-5 mol/L unlabeled heparin.) At the end of the incubation period, cells were washed 3 times with ice-cold PBS and solubilized in 1 mol/L NaOH overnight at room temperature. Cell lysates were transferred to scintillation vials to which Ecoscint (National Diagnostics) was added. Radioactivity was counted in a liquid scintillation counter (Canberra, Packard) to determine the amount of bound [3H]heparin. Proliferation and binding assays were performed at the same time on cells from individual cell cultures.

Statistical Analysis
{chi}2 analysis was used to compare group risk factors and the Mann-Whitney U test to compare the median heparin inhibition values for stenosed and nonstenosed grafts. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used in the comparison between heparin inhibition and the amount of binding in individual VSMC cultures, and the point biserial correlation coefficient was used for analysis of dichotomous data.28

Materials
FCS was obtained from J. Bio (Les Ulis, France), and all other cell culture materials were obtained from GIBCO Life Technologies/BRL. Stock [3H]heparin (1 mCi/mg, with an average molecular weight of 14 kDa) was purchased from Du Pont. The unlabeled heparin (Paynes & Byrne) was a kind gift of Dr B. Mulloy, National Institute of Biological Standards and Control, South Mimms, England, and has previously been extensively characterized for chemical and anticoagulant properties29 as well as for its in vitro antiproliferative effects on human VSMCs.30 The monoclonal antibody to smooth muscle {alpha}-actin was clone 1A4 (Sigma).


*    Results
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*Results
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Seventy-six patients were followed up for a minimum of 1 year. Infrainguinal grafts in 8 more patients occluded within 6 weeks of surgery and were not analyzed in this study, because their failure was considered to have resulted from technical mishap or thrombosis.22 31 In 14 of the 76 patients, cell culture was unsuccessful, leaving 62 patients suitable for analysis. The population of patients in each outcome group was not significantly different with respect to age, sex, diabetes, smoking habits, or lipid profile (TableUp). Given the small numbers involved, no attempt was made to stratify for the severity of any of these parameters. Thirty-nine patients had angiographically confirmed unstenosed grafts after a minimum of 1 year of follow-up, and 23 (37%) had angiographically confirmed stenoses that had developed between 6 weeks and 1 year after surgery. All of the patients with stenoses underwent revision surgery, and in 4 cases the intimal hyperplastic lesion was removed and examined histologically. These lesions were all MIH. The stenoses were first detected at the following times (figures are cumulative): 9 by 3 months, 16 by 6 months, 21 by 9 months, and 23 by 1 year. In these 23 patients, the median VSMC inhibition in the presence of heparin, as calculated from growth assays, was 20.9% (range, 0% to 62%). By contrast, the median for the 39 patients whose grafts remained patent was significantly higher at 54.0% (range, 4% to 95%) (P<0.001, Mann Whitney) (Figure 1Down).



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Figure 1. Inhibition of proliferation by heparin (7 µmol/L) of VSMCs derived from saphenous vein of patients with and without stenosis of infrainguinal vein grafts between 6 weeks and 1 year after surgery. Inhibition was calculated as described in "Methods." Each symbol represents a patient.

To estimate the density of [3H]heparin binding to VSMCs, at a concentration of 10-7 mol/L, displacement curves were constructed for cell cultures from 25 patients (examples in Figure 2Down). Maximum binding was calculated for another 13 cultures. In 13 of the 38 patients, graft outcome data were also available, with binding and proliferation assays performed concurrently. Analysis of the binding suggested a single population of binding sites (data not shown) and showed a marked variation in [3H]heparin binding between different VSMC cultures, with the number of sites ranging from {approx}105 to 106/cell. It should be noted that this does not represent maximal binding, because the concentration of labeled heparin was not saturating but rather approximated the dissociation constant. Proliferation assays on the same cell cultures also revealed a varied response, with a range of values for heparin inhibition (0 to 95%; median, 42.3%). In cultures derived from the same patient, a highly significant positive correlation was observed between heparin inhibition of proliferation and the density of binding of [3H]heparin (10-7 mol/L) (r=0.81, n=38, P<0.0001) (Figure 3Down). In other experiments (data not shown), we have demonstrated that this binding site is saturable.



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Figure 2. Representative inhibition curves of [3H]heparin binding in a cell culture resistant to growth inhibition by heparin (<25% inhibition, {bullet}) and a culture >75% inhibited by heparin ({blacksquare}).



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Figure 3. Relation of inhibition of VSMC proliferation with [3H]heparin binding. Each symbol represents a patient.

In the subgroup of 13 patients for whom binding, growth, and clinical data were known, 6 patients had patent grafts at the end of 1 year, and stenoses had been detected in the remainder. Both heparin binding and growth inhibition by heparin were again significantly correlated with clinical outcome (point biserial correlation coefficients, r=0.56, P<0.05 and r=0.66, P<0.02). As one would anticipate from the overall patient data, there was also a strong correlation between binding and growth inhibition in this subpopulation (r=0.79, P=0.001) (Figure 4Down), giving a multiple correlation coefficient of 0.65 for the 3 parameters.



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Figure 4. Relation of inhibition of VSMC proliferation by heparin with [3H]heparin binding in patients with ({diamondsuit}) and without ({diamond}) infrainguinal vein graft stenosis.


*    Discussion
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up arrowMethods
up arrowResults
*Discussion
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Vascular stenosis or restenosis has proved to be an intractable clinical problem despite intensive attempts to devise effective pharmacological prophylaxis. Although the basic features of MIH are well described, it is unclear why this process, which is essentially a reactive response to vascular injury,31 32 becomes excessive and inappropriate in 25% to 50% of patients6 and leads to clinically significant luminal obstruction. Many therapeutic agents have proved to be highly effective in attenuating MIH after vascular injury in animal models, but this has not been predictive of success in clinical trials, which have been consistently negative.33 Even if one allows for weaknesses in trial design, this suggests that such models may not be wholly appropriate, particularly if they involve species as remote from humans as the rat and rabbit. It is also true that remodeling, perhaps involving the extracellular matrix, has not so far been a therapeutic target.34 We have therefore used cultured human VSMCs as a model system to investigate the control of cell proliferation. In previous studies, we have shown that cells from a given individual behave consistently over several passages, notably in terms of response to growth inhibition by heparin. Furthermore, this consistency is also seen in cells taken from different vessels in the same patient, including those from stenotic lesions themselves.35 By contrast, in confirmation of earlier observations, we have demonstrated that there is wide interindividual diversity in responses.18 These findings support the assumption that differences in cellular response are reproducible and significant. In the present study, we have confirmed and extended our earlier observation that VSMCs derived from patients with stenoses are relatively resistant to growth inhibition by heparin and report a highly significant correlation between reduced growth inhibition by heparin in cells cultured from the grafted vessel and the development of stenosis in the subsequent year.

Heparin resistance has been shown in this series to be a highly significant predictor for the development of subsequent stenosis. The conventional risk factors for atherosclerosis, by contrast, have shown little or no consistent association with clinical outcome either for peripheral vein grafts or coronary angioplasty, although it should be noted that our study has not been stratified for parameters such as the size of runoff vessels or flow velocity. Given the large difference in heparin responsiveness between the 2 outcome groups, it is highly unlikely that these factors are a major confounding influence. Obviously, the next step was to consider possible mechanisms to explain this finding, and the heparin binding study was carried out for this reason. Castellot et al27 first described specific binding of heparin to animal VSMCs in 1985, followed by the observation of Resink et al19 that growth inhibition in rat VSMCs was related to the density of heparin binding sites in the SHR model of hypertension, in which both parameters were reduced compared with WKY controls. Barzu et al20 showed that it is possible to isolate heparin-resistant rat VSMCs by growing them in culture in the presence of heparin for up to 15 passages. Here too, growth inhibition by heparin altered in parallel with the extent of reduction in heparin binding, although this association was not found by San Antonio et al.36 The mechanism of heparin inhibition is itself still incompletely understood. Heparin inhibits the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase in intact rat VSMCs, but the intracellular mechanisms involved have not been defined,37 and it is unclear whether internalization of heparin is required for its antiproliferative action. Because our experiments were carried out in cell monolayers, the possibility also remains that it is the interaction of heparin with extracellular matrix, rather than cell-associated binding sites, that mediates its inhibitory action on these cells.38 The same group has recently reported the failure of heparin to inhibit intimal hyperplasia in a primate, the baboon, while drawing attention to the existence of heparin-sensitive and -insensitive pathways of mitogenesis.39 It must, of course, be remembered that these concentrations of heparin are far above therapeutic anticoagulant levels and that these results therefore have no implications for the clinical use of heparin in stenosis or restenosis prophylaxis.

Our results indicate a clear relationship between clinical outcome and in vitro heparin inhibition and between inhibition and heparin binding, and in a subgroup of patients in whom we have all 3 sets of data, a strong correlation has been confirmed for these parameters. Although we did not set out to answer this question, we have attempted retrospectively to correlate heparin inhibitability with time of detection of stenosis as an indirect measure of a "dose-response" relationship (data not shown), but the correlation was weak and nonsignificant: one would need a considerably larger population to address this issue. Furthermore, one must always be cautious about any extrapolation from in vitro cell culture to a clinical setting, bearing in mind that cell culture inevitably implies the loss of in vivo local and systemic regulatory mechanisms.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated for the first time a cellular marker in vascular smooth muscle that is highly predictive of subsequent stenosis in vein graft recipients and have also presented evidence on which to base the formulation of a possible mechanism. This is currently under further investigation by our group, particularly in the context of the role of extracellular matrix proteins as regulators of cell growth and differentiation. Our findings have several implications for future research and ultimately for clinical management. Altered responsiveness to heparin may itself be a marker for a more fundamental disturbance of growth regulation in the vascular wall, although this does not preclude the possibility that a failure to interact appropriately with glycosaminoglycans in the vessel wall has in itself an important role in the disease process. Understanding these mechanisms and how they could be modulated will contribute to better understanding of the biology of the vascular wall and may also lead to more rational and effective management of an important clinical problem, with the intriguing prospect of identifying individuals at increased risk of graft failure and ultimately reducing the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome.


*    Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms
 
MIH = myointimal hyperplasia
SHR = spontaneously hypertensive rat
VSMC = vascular smooth muscle cell
WKY = Wistar-Kyoto rat


*    Acknowledgments
 
Drs Schachter and Patel gratefully acknowledge personal support from the Institut des Récherches Internationales Servier. Drs Refson, Munro, and Wolfe gratefully acknowledge financial support from Impra UK. Dr Munro was a British Heart Foundation Junior Research Fellow.

Received November 25, 1997; revision received February 3, 1998; accepted February 13, 1998.


*    References
up arrowTop
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up arrowMethods
up arrowResults
up arrowDiscussion
*References
 
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