Abstract: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a severe and progressive pulmonary vascular disease mainly characterized by a continuous increase in pulmonary vascular resistance and rise of pulmonary artery pressure caused by pulmonary arteriolar lesions, ultimately resulting in right heart failure and even death. Pulmonary vascular remodeling is a characteristic pathological change of PAH, and its mechanism involves gene susceptibility, imbalance of vasoactive substances, abnormal energy metabolism and other potential factors. Recent studies have found that inflammatory reaction plays a crucial role in the mechanism of pulmonary vascular remodeling. Inflammatory cells are found to infiltrate and accumulate around the pulmonary vessels of PAH patients and of animal models. In addition, significantly high level of cytokines and auto-antibodies were also found in peripheral blood, which is closely related to poor prognosis of PAH. This article reviews the research progress about the potential role of inflammatory cells in the vascular remodeling of PAH and provides new ideas for developing of safe and effective treatment methods for PAH.

Key words: pulmonary arterial hypertension, pulmonary vascular remodeling, inflammation, inflammatory cells