| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Blood, 15 September 2008, Vol. 112, No. 6, pp. 2318-2326. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on July 9, 2008; DOI 10.1182/blood-2008-05-156331.
HEMOSTASIS, THROMBOSIS, AND VASCULAR BIOLOGY Transcriptional profiling of VEGF-A and VEGF-C target genes in lymphatic endothelium reveals endothelial-specific molecule-1 as a novel mediator of lymphangiogenesis1 Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Lymphatic vessel growth and activation, mediated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)–C and/or VEGF-A, have important roles in metastasis and in chronic inflammation. We aimed to comprehensively identify downstream molecular targets induced by VEGF-A or VEGF-C in lymphatic endothelium by analyzing the time-series transcriptional profile of treated human dermal lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). We identified a number of genes, many not previously known to be involved in lymphangiogenesis, that were characterized either as early response genes, transiently induced genes, or progressively induced genes. Endothelial-specific molecule-1 (ESM-1) was one of the genes that were most potently induced by both VEGF-A and VEGF-C. Whereas ESM-1 induction by VEGF-A was mainly dependent on activation of VEGFR-2, VEGF-C–mediated induction depended on the activity of both VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3. Incubation of LECs with ESM-1 increased the stimulatory effects of both VEGF-A and VEGF-C on LEC proliferation and migration, whereas ESM-1 alone had no effect. Importantly, VEGF-A (or VEGF-C) induction of LEC proliferation and migration were significantly inhibited by siRNA-mediated silencing of ESM-1 in vitro and in vivo. These studies reveal ESM-1 as a novel mediator of lymphangiogenesis and as a potential target for the inhibition of pathologic lymphatic vessel activation.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 by American Society of Hematology Online ISSN: 1528-0020 | |||||||||