Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Mar 18;192(4):757-759.
doi: 10.1093/bjd/ljae452.

R(+) propranolol decreases lipid accumulation in haemangioma-derived stem cells

Jerry Wei Heng Tan  1   2 , Jill Wylie-Sears  1 , Caroline T Seebauer  1   3 , John B Mulliken  4 , Mathias Francois  5 , Annegret Holm  1 , Joyce Bischoff  1
Affiliations

R(+) propranolol decreases lipid accumulation in haemangioma-derived stem cells

Jerry Wei Heng Tan et al. Br J Dermatol. .

Abstract

Infantile haemangioma (IH), often treated with propranolol, is a benign vascular tumour that undergoes a spontaneous involution to a fibrofatty residuum. We investigated how R(+) propranolol, the nonbeta blocker enantiomer of racaemic propranolol, affects lipid accumulation and adipogenesis in IH. This was motivated by our previous work showing that R(+) propranolol can block blood vessel formation in a preclinical model of IH. Our findings suggest a novel regulatory role for R(+) propranolol in modulating lipid accumulation in haemangioma stem cells. This highlights a novel role for R(+) propranolol in the involuting phase of IH and offers a strategy to reduce fibrofatty residua in IH.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: M.F. is involved with the startup biotech company GBM Pty Ltd., which develops sex-determining region Y box transcription factor 18 small-molecule inhibitors.

Update of

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Mulliken JB, Glowacki J. Haemangiomas and vascular malformations in infants and children: a classification based on endothelial characteristics. Plast Reconstr Surg 1982; 69:412–22. - PubMed
    1. Léauté-Labrèze C, Hoeger P, Mazereeuw-Hautier Jet al. . A randomized, controlled trial of oral propranolol in infantile haemangioma. N Engl J Med 2015; 372:735–46. - PubMed
    1. Baselga E, El Hachem M, Diociaiuti Aet al. . Sequelae following infantile haemangiomas treated with propranolol. Eur J Dermatol 2021; 31:785–90. - PubMed
    1. Yu Z, Cai R, Chang Let al. . Clinical and radiological outcomes of infantile haemangioma treated with oral propranolol: A long-term follow-up study. J Dermatol 2019; 46:376–82. - PubMed
    1. Overman J, Fontaine F, Wylie-Sears Jet al. . R-propranolol is a small molecule inhibitor of the SOX18 transcription factor in a rare vascular syndrome and haemangioma. eLife 2019; 8:e43026. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources