The development and formation of normal and abnormal vasculature is of critical importance to both normal biology and disease pathogenesis. Recent studies from our and other laboratories have demonstrated the importance of syndecans in regulation of heparan-binding growth factors signaling on endothelial cells. Yet, despite the impressive degree of syndecan- dependent regulation of VEGF signaling, there is a very limited understanding of how this is accomplished. In preliminary studies, we have observed abnormal developmental angiogenesis in mice missing syndecan-2 and abnormal lymphatic morphogenesis in mice missing syndecan- 4. Furthermore, signaling studies point to VEGFA specificity for syndecan-2 and VEGFC specificity for syndecan-4. We propose to determine relative contributions of Syndecan-2 and Syndecan-4 to, respectively, VEGFR2-driven angiogenesis and VEGFR3-driven lymphangiogenesis both in development and in adult settings. The understanding of accounts for these signaling specificities would open-up the possibility of selectively targeting angiogenesis vs. lymphangiogenesis in a number of settings and, be, potentially, of tremendous clinical significance.
We are focusing on the role of specific signaling cascades in endothelial cells that regulates some of the most fundamental properties of vascular development. A better understanding of this system will open new therapeutic possibilities for treating diseases such as heart attacks, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.
| Chen, Pei-Yu; Simons, Michael (2016) When endothelial cells go rogue. EMBO Mol Med 8:1-2 |
| Wang, Yingdi; Baeyens, Nicolas; Corti, Federico et al. (2016) Syndecan 4 controls lymphatic vasculature remodeling during mouse embryonic development. Development 143:4441-4451 |
| Simons, Michael; Eichmann, Anne (2015) Molecular controls of arterial morphogenesis. Circ Res 116:1712-24 |
| Baeyens, Nicolas; Mulligan-Kehoe, Mary Jo; Corti, Federico et al. (2014) Syndecan 4 is required for endothelial alignment in flow and atheroprotective signaling. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111:17308-13 |
| Ju, Rong; Zhuang, Zhen W; Zhang, Jiasheng et al. (2014) Angiopoietin-2 secretion by endothelial cell exosomes: regulation by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and syndecan-4/syntenin pathways. J Biol Chem 289:510-9 |
| Atri, Deepak; Larrivée, Bruno; Eichmann, Anne et al. (2013) Endothelial signaling and the molecular basis of arteriovenous malformation. Cell Mol Life Sci : |
| Ju, Rong; Simons, Michael (2013) Syndecan 4 regulation of PDK1-dependent Akt activation. Cell Signal 25:101-5 |
| Elfenbein, Arye; Simons, Michael (2013) Syndecan-4 signaling at a glance. J Cell Sci 126:3799-804 |
| Lanahan, Anthony; Zhang, Xi; Fantin, Alessandro et al. (2013) The neuropilin 1 cytoplasmic domain is required for VEGF-A-dependent arteriogenesis. Dev Cell 25:156-68 |
| Moraes, Filipa; Paye, Julie; Mac Gabhann, Feilim et al. (2013) Endothelial cell-dependent regulation of arteriogenesis. Circ Res 113:1076-86 |
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