Anales RANF

Simposium 7: PURINES AND PURINERGIC RECEPTORS IN VASCULAR INJURY, CANCER, AND INFLAMMATION Chairs : Evgenia Gerasimovskaya (Denver, USA) / Alexander Verin (Augusta, USA) Content : Extracellular purines are central, although still not fully recognized players in the vascular system. They control vascular cell growth, differentiation, permeability, inflammatory and immune responses. Inflammation plays a critical role in the vascular response to injury. Acute inflammation is characterized by increased vascular permeability and rapid accumulation of immune cells at the site of tissue injury and also associates with tumor progression. In addition, impaired vascular barrier function is frequently associated with dysregulated angiogenesis of immature and leaky microvessels, such as vasa vasorum, that serve as a conduit for the inflammatory cells into the vascular wall, thereby amplifying vascular inflammation process. In this symposium, we will highlight several research topics that demonstrate a role of extracellular adenosine, ATP and purine converting enzymes in a context of devastating vascular inflammatory disorders such as acute respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary hypertension, diabetes and atherosclerosis. Moreover, novel data on detection, regulation and functional role of guanine, guanosine and guanosine phosphates in invasion and metastasis will be presented to underlie the importance of intracellular and extracellular purine signaling for cancer progression.