Endogenous LXA(4) Circuits Are Determinants of Pathological Angiogenesis in Response to Chronic Injury
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY
Authors: Leedom, Alexander J.; Sullivan, Aaron B.; Dong, Baiyan; Lau, Denise; Gronert, Karsten
Abstract
Inflammation and angiogenesis are intimately linked, and their dysregulation leads to pathological angiogenesis in human diseases. 15-lipoxygenase (15-LOX) and lipoxin A(4) receptors (ALX) constitute a LXA(4) circuit that is a key feature of inflammatory resolution. LXA(4) analogs have been shown to regulate vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A-induced angiogenic response in vitro. 15-LOX and ALX are highly expressed in the avascular and immune-privileged cornea. However, the role of this endogenous LXA(4) circuit in pathological neovascularization has not been determined. We report that suture-induced chronic injury in the cornea triggered polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) infiltration, pathological neovascularization, and up-regulation of mediators of inflammatory angiogenesis, namely VEGF-A and the VEGF-3 receptor (FLT4). Up-regulation of the VEGF circuit and neovascularization correlated with selective changes in both 15-LOX (Alox15) and ALX (Fprrs2) expression and a temporally defined increase in basal 15-LOX activity. More importantly, genetic deletion of 15-LOX or 5-LOX, key and obligatory enzymes in the formation of LXA(4), respectively, led to exacerbated inflammatory neovascularization coincident with increased VEGF-A and FLT4 expression. Direct topical treatment with LXA(4), but not its metabolic precursor 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, reduced expression of VEGF-A and FLT4 and inflammatory angiogenesis and rescued 15-LOX knockout mice from exacerbated angiogenesis. in summary, our findings and the prominent expression of 15-LOX and ALX in epithelial cells and macrophages place the LXA(4) circuit as an endogenous regulator of pathological angiogenesis. (Am J Pathol 2010, 176:74-84; DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2010.090678)
Activated N-Ras signaling regulates arterial-venous specification in zebrafish
JOURNAL OF HEMATOLOGY & ONCOLOGY
Authors: Ren, Chun-Guang; Wang, Lei; Jia, Xiao-E; Liu, Yi-Jie; Dong, Zhi-Wei; Jin, Yi; Chen, Yi; Deng, Min; Zhou, Yong; Zhou, Yi; Ren, Rui-Bao; Pan, Wei-Jun; Liu, Ting-Xi
Abstract
Background: The aberrant activation of Ras signaling is associated with human diseases including hematological malignancies and vascular disorders. So far the pathological roles of activated Ras signaling in hematopoiesis and vasculogenesis are largely unknown. Methods: A conditional Cre/loxP transgenic strategy was used to mediate the specific expression of a constitutively active form of human N-Ras in zebrafish endothelial and hematopoietic cells driven by the zebrafish lmo2 promoter. The expression of hematopoietic and endothelial marker genes was analyzed both via whole mount in situ hybridization (WISH) assay and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). The embryonic vascular morphogenesis was characterized both by living imaging and immunofluorescence on the sections with a confocal microscopy, and the number of endothelial cells in the embryos was quantified by flow cytometry. The functional analyses of the blood circulation were carried out by fluorescence microangiography assay and morpholino injection. Results: In the activated N-Ras transgenic embryos, the primitive hematopoiesis appeared normal, however, the definitive hematopoiesis of these embryos was completely absent. Further analysis of endothelial cell markers confirmed that transcription of arterial marker ephrinB2 was significantly decreased and expression of venous marker flt4 excessively increased, indicating the activated N-Ras signaling promotes the venous development at the expense of arteriogenesis during zebrafish embryogenesis. The activated N-Ras-expressing embryos showed atrophic axial arteries and expansive axial veins, leading to no definitive hematopoietic stem cell formation, the blood circulation failure and subsequently embryonic lethality. Conclusions: Our studies revealed for the first time that activated N-Ras signaling during the endothelial differentiation in vertebrates can disrupt the balance of arterial-venous specification, thus providing new insights into the pathogenesis of the congenital human vascular disease and tumorigenic angiogenesis.