Tyrosine kinase inhibitor suppresses coronary arteriosclerotic changes and vasospastic responses induced by chronic treatment with interleukin-1β in pigs in vivo

We recently demonstrated that chronic treatment with IL-1β induces coronary arteriosclerotic changes and vasospastic responses to autacoids in pigs in vivo and that those responses are importantly mediated by PDGF. The receptors for PDGF and other major growth factors are known to have tyrosine kinase activity. We therefore investigated the effects of a selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor, ST 638, on those responses induced by IL-1β in our swine model. Intimal thickening and coronary vasospastic responses to serotonin and histamine were induced at the site of the coronary artery where IL-1β was chronically and locally applied. These responses were significantly suppressed in a dose-dependent manner by cotreatment with ST 638. In addition, ST 494, which is an inactive form of ST 638, did not inhibit those responses. The treatment with ST 638 alone did not affect the coronary vasoconstricting responses to the autacoids. Immunoblotting using an antibody to phosphotyrosines confirmed the inhibitory effects of ST 638 on the tyrosine phosphorylations induced by IL-1β. These results thus suggest that tyrosine kinase activation may play an important role in mediating the effects of IL-1β, while also suggesting that ST 638 has an inhibitory effect on the arteriosclerotic changes and vasospastic responses to autacoids in our swine model in vivo.