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Blood, 1 April 2008, Vol. 111, No. 7, pp. 3498-3506.
Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on January 14, 2008; DOI 10.1182/blood-2007-08-105346.
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Submitted August 6, 2007
Accepted January 9, 2008
The transcription factor Erg regulates angiogenesis and endothelial apoptosis through VE-cadherin
Graeme M Birdsey, Nicola H Dryden, Valerie Amsellem, Frank Gebhardt, Kapil Sahnan, Dorian O Haskard, Elisabetta Dejana, Justin C Mason, and Anna M Randi*
National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) Cardiovascular Sciences Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
Silence Therapeutics AG, Berlin, Germany
IFOM, The FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Milan, Italy
* Corresponding author; email: a.randi{at}imperial.ac.uk.
Tight regulation of the balance between apoptosis and survival is essential in angiogenesis. The ETS transcription factor Erg is required for endothelial tube formation in vitro. Inhibition of Erg expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), using antisense oligonucleotides, resulted in detachment of cell-cell contacts and increased cell death. Inhibition of Erg expression by antisense in HUVEC also lowered expression of the adhesion molecule VE-cadherin, a key regulator of endothelial intercellular junctions and survival. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we showed that Erg binds to the VE-cadherin promoter. Furthermore, Erg was found to enhance VE-cadherin promoter activity in a transactivation assay. Apoptosis induced by inhibition of Erg was partly rescued by over-expression of VE-cadherin-GFP, suggesting that VE-cadherin is involved in the Erg-dependent survival signals. To demonstrate the role of Erg in angiogenesis in vivo, we used siRNA against Erg in a Matrigel plug model. Erg inhibition resulted in a significant decrease in vascularization, with increase in caspase positive EC. These results identify a new pathway regulating angiogenesis and endothelial survival, via the transcription factor Erg and the adhesion molecule VE-cadherin.
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