Calcification of vessels and cardiac valves causes a multitude of clinical problems including congestive heart failure, cardiomyopathy, angina, and complications during interventional and surgical procedures. Currently, there are no medical therapies able to prevent or reverse calcification. An understanding of the underlying mechanisms would identify new targets for developments of such therapies. Mice deficient in Matrix GLA Protein (MGP) develop extensive vascular calcification with replacement of the vascular wall by typical cartilage cells. This suggests that MGP plays a role in vascular cell differentiation. We hypothesize that the function of MGP is to act as an inhibitor of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), a potent inducer of calcified tissues. In absence of MGP, vascular cells may be induced by BMP-2, and differentiate into cartilage and bone cells instead of vascular smooth muscle cells. We hypothesize that this effect of MGP occurs early in vessel formation. The proposal has four aims. The first is to study the effect of increased levels of MGP on cell differentiation induced by BMP-2 in tissue culture, and then use this system to identify key sequences in MGP by altering the MGP protein.
The second aim i s to characterize the putative binding between MGP and BMP-2 by using cross-linking and binding studies.
The third aim i s to identify when in the development of MGP deficient mice, vascular cells lose their normal characteristics and differentiate into cartilage cells, using specific markers for smooth muscle and cartilage cells. Finally, we will generate transgenic mice deficient in normal MGP but expressing selected key sequences of MGP identified in previous aims to affect cell differentiation, and to study the effect of these sequences on in vascular calcification in vivo. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of MGP will provide information that is widely applicable to the development of vascular disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Clinical Investigator Award (CIA) (K08)
Project #
5K08HL004270-04
Application #
6638147
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHL1-CSR-K (F2))
Program Officer
Schucker, Beth
Project Start
2000-04-01
Project End
2005-03-31
Budget Start
2003-04-01
Budget End
2004-03-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$121,624
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Los Angeles
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
092530369
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90095
Yao, Yucheng; Zebboudj, Amina F; Shao, Esther et al. (2006) Regulation of bone morphogenetic protein-4 by matrix GLA protein in vascular endothelial cells involves activin-like kinase receptor 1. J Biol Chem 281:33921-30
Bostrom, Kristina; Zebboudj, Amina F; Yao, Yucheng et al. (2004) Matrix GLA protein stimulates VEGF expression through increased transforming growth factor-beta1 activity in endothelial cells. J Biol Chem 279:52904-13
Shin, Victoria; Zebboudj, Amina F; Bostrom, Kristina (2004) Endothelial cells modulate osteogenesis in calcifying vascular cells. J Vasc Res 41:193-201
Zebboudj, Amina F; Shin, Victoria; Bostrom, Kristina (2003) Matrix GLA protein and BMP-2 regulate osteoinduction in calcifying vascular cells. J Cell Biochem 90:756-65
Zebboudj, Amina F; Imura, Minori; Bostrom, Kristina (2002) Matrix GLA protein, a regulatory protein for bone morphogenetic protein-2. J Biol Chem 277:4388-94
Bostrom, K (2001) Insights into the mechanism of vascular calcification. Am J Cardiol 88:20E-22E