Cigarette Smoke Directly Promotes Pulmonary Arterial Remodeling and Kv7.4 Channel Dysfunction

In this paper we demonstrate that cigarette smoke exposure directly mediates the induction of cell senescence as well as a dysregulated expression and activity of the voltagegated K+ channel Kv7.4 in pulmonary arteries, this leading to vascular tone alterations. These results open a new line of study related to the exploitation of these mechanisms and the use of senolytics and Kv channel activators as therapeutic targets in pulmonary vascular diseases.