Publication Date:
2008-07-03
Description:
Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vasculature, is a key process in several pathological conditions, including tumour growth and age-related macular degeneration. Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) stimulate angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis by activating VEGF receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinases in endothelial cells. VEGFR-3 (also known as FLT-4) is present in all endothelia during development, and in the adult it becomes restricted to the lymphatic endothelium. However, VEGFR-3 is upregulated in the microvasculature of tumours and wounds. Here we demonstrate that VEGFR-3 is highly expressed in angiogenic sprouts, and genetic targeting of VEGFR-3 or blocking of VEGFR-3 signalling with monoclonal antibodies results in decreased sprouting, vascular density, vessel branching and endothelial cell proliferation in mouse angiogenesis models. Stimulation of VEGFR-3 augmented VEGF-induced angiogenesis and sustained angiogenesis even in the presence of VEGFR-2 (also known as KDR or FLK-1) inhibitors, whereas antibodies against VEGFR-3 and VEGFR-2 in combination resulted in additive inhibition of angiogenesis and tumour growth. Furthermore, genetic or pharmacological disruption of the Notch signalling pathway led to widespread endothelial VEGFR-3 expression and excessive sprouting, which was inhibited by blocking VEGFR-3 signals. Our results implicate VEGFR-3 as a regulator of vascular network formation. Targeting VEGFR-3 may provide additional efficacy for anti-angiogenic therapies, especially towards vessels that are resistant to VEGF or VEGFR-2 inhibitors.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tammela, Tuomas -- Zarkada, Georgia -- Wallgard, Elisabet -- Murtomaki, Aino -- Suchting, Steven -- Wirzenius, Maria -- Waltari, Marika -- Hellstrom, Mats -- Schomber, Tibor -- Peltonen, Reetta -- Freitas, Catarina -- Duarte, Antonio -- Isoniemi, Helena -- Laakkonen, Pirjo -- Christofori, Gerhard -- Yla-Herttuala, Seppo -- Shibuya, Masabumi -- Pytowski, Bronislaw -- Eichmann, Anne -- Betsholtz, Christer -- Alitalo, Kari -- 5 R01 HL075183-02/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2008 Jul 31;454(7204):656-60. doi: 10.1038/nature07083. Epub 2008 Jun 25.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Molecular/Cancer Biology Laboratory and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Biomedicum Helsinki and the Haartman Institute University of Helsinki, PO Box 63 (Haartmaninkatu 8), 00014 Helsinki, Finland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18594512" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Angiogenesis Inhibitors/pharmacology
;
Animals
;
Antibodies, Monoclonal/pharmacology
;
Cell Line, Tumor
;
Dipeptides/pharmacology
;
Down-Regulation
;
Endothelial Cells/metabolism
;
Female
;
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic/drug effects
;
Humans
;
Ligands
;
Mice
;
Mice, Inbred BALB C
;
Mice, Transgenic
;
Neoplasms/*blood supply/drug therapy
;
Neovascularization, Pathologic/genetics/*metabolism
;
Receptors, Notch/metabolism
;
Signal Transduction
;
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-3/*antagonists &
;
inhibitors/*metabolism
Print ISSN:
0028-0836
Electronic ISSN:
1476-4687
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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