Abstract

Angiogenesis is the process by which new vessels form from existing vascular networks. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) may contribute to the study of vascular repair and angiogenesis. The chemokine CXCL12 regulates multiple cell functions, including angiogenesis, mainly through its receptor CXCR4. In contrast to CXCL12/CXCR4, few studies have described roles for CXCR7 in vascular biology, and the downstream mechanism of CXCR7 in angiogenesis remains unclear. The results of the present study showed that CXCL12 dose-dependently enhanced angiogenesis in chorioallantoic membranes (CAMs) and HUVECs. The specific activation of CXCR7 with TC14012 (a CXCR7 agonist) resulted in the significant induction of tube formation in HUVECs and in vivo. Further evidence suggested that CXCL12 induced directional polarization and migration in the HUVECs, which is necessary for tube formation. Moreover, CXCR7 translocalization was observed during the polarization of HUVECs in stripe assays. Finally, treatment with TC14012 also significantly increased PI3K/Akt phosphorylation, and tube formation was blocked by treating HUVECs with an Akt inhibitor. Overall, this study indicated that CXCL12-stimulated CXCR7 acts as a functional receptor to activate Akt for angiogenesis in HUVECs and that CXCR7 may be a potential target molecule for endothelial regeneration and repair after vascular injury.

Details

Title
CXCL12 enhances angiogenesis through CXCR7 activation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells
Author
Zhang, Min 1 ; Qiu, Lisha 2 ; Zhang, Yanyan 2 ; Xu, Dongsheng 3 ; Zheng, Jialin C 4 ; Jiang, Li 1 

 Division of Cardiology, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China 
 Center for Neuroimmunology and Regenerative Therapy, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China 
 State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, P.R. China; Department of Spine Surgery and Neural Rehabilitation Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, P.R. China 
 Center for Neuroimmunology and Regenerative Therapy, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, P.R. China; Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neurosciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, United States; Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Tongji University, Shanghai, P.R. China 
Pages
1-9
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Aug 2017
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
1957224548
Copyright
© 2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.