AccScience Publishing / BH / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/BH025150018
COMMENTARY

A commentary on “Local DIO2 Elevation Is an Adaption in Malformed Cerebrovasculature”

Qiheng He1,2 Yong Cao1,2,3*
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1 Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
2 Center for Basic and Translational Medicine, China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, China
3 Department of Management Office, Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Beijing, China
Brain & Heart, 025150018 https://doi.org/10.36922/BH025150018
Received: 9 April 2025 | Revised: 3 June 2025 | Accepted: 11 June 2025 | Published online: 1 July 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

This commentary discusses the study “Local DIO2 Elevation Is an Adaption in Malformed Cerebrovasculature.” The authors investigated the role of iodothyronine deiodinase 2 (DIO2), an enzyme that converts thyroxine (T4) to active triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroid hormone (TH) signaling in cerebrovascular malformations. Using single-cell transcriptomic analyses of two prototypical malformations, cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) and brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), they identified activated TH signaling accompanied by elevated DIO2 expression in fibroblasts isolated from lesion samples. Functionally, supplementation with exogenous DIO2 or T3 effectively reduced brain hemorrhage, excessive extracellular matrix remodeling, and vascular leakage in CCM mouse models (endothelial-specific Pdcd10 knockout mice) and brain AVMs (endothelial-specific KrasG12D mutant mice). Conversely, genetic silencing of DIO2 or pharmacological inhibition of TH signaling deteriorated vascular anomalies and increased hemorrhagic burden. Mechanistic investigations revealed that elevated DIO2 expression is driven by activation of the fibroblast phosphoinositide 3-kinase-protein kinase B-mammalian target of rapamycin-forkhead box K1 pathway in malformed vessels. Furthermore, the study elucidated the molecular basis by which T3 ameliorates cerebrovascular pathology: T3 administration suppressed inflammatory infiltration and restored mitochondrial homeostasis by activating the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha-superoxide dismutase 2/peroxiredoxin 3/glutathione peroxidase 1 axis, thereby reducing reactive oxygen species accumulation in malformed brain vessels. Collectively, the authors delineate a novel, localized DIO2-mediated adaptive response in malformed brain vessels and highlight TH signaling as a promising therapeutic target for cerebrovascular disorders.

Keywords
Thyroid hormones
Vascular malformations
Arteriovenous malformation
Cerebral cavernous malformation
Hemorrhage
Funding
This study is funded by the NSFC General Program (82171267), the Genomics Platform Construction for Chinese Major Brain Disease-AVM (PXM2019_026280_000002-AVM), and the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-based Precision Medicine (PXM2020_014226_000066).
Conflict of interest
Yong Cao is an Editorial Board Member of this journal, but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Separately, other authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.
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Brain & Heart, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4139 Published by AccScience Publishing