title: [Activation of latent TGF-beta. A required mechanism for vascular integrity].
abstract: Recent molecular genetics studies in humans and mice showed that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is involved in vasculogenesis and maintenance of blood vessel integrity. These results confirm earlier in vitro studies demonstrating generation of active TGF-beta when endothelial cells are cocultured with smooth muscle cells or pericytes. TGF-beta is secreted as a latent, inactive complex and becomes active only when released. Latent TGF-beta binds covalently to proteins (LTBP) that target it to the extracellular matrix. Thus, the latency of TGF-beta is essential to the regulation of the bioavailability and activity of this cytokine. The development of methods for measuring activation of latent TGF-beta in cell cultures and identification of the proteins contained in the latent TGF-beta complex have shed new light on the mechanism of activation of latent TGF-beta possibly involved in vasculogenesis, angiogenesis, and other processes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire Eucaryote (CNRS), Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Gleizes
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Rifkin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta
vernacular_title: L'activation du TGF-beta latent. Un mécanisme requis pour l'intégrité vasculaire.