Role of chemokine SDF-1/PBSF and its receptor CXCR4 in blood vessel development.
Chemokines are a family of small, structurally related molecules that regulate cell trafficking. We isolated a chemokine, stromal cell-derived factor/pre-B cell growth-stimulating factor (SDF-1/PBSF), as a molecule that stimulates the growth of B lymphocyte precursors and then found its multiple physiological functions in development. SDF-1/PBSF is essential for embryonic viability, B lymphopoiesis, bone marrow myelopoiesis, and cardiogenesis. Moreover, a primary physiologic receptor for SDF-1/PBSF is a seven-transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptor, CXCR4, that also functions as a coreceptor for strains of HIV-1. In recent years, we have shown that SDF-1/ PBSF and CXCR4 chemokine ligand receptor system is required for vascularization of the gastrointestinal tract by analyzing mice deficient in these molecules, thus defining a new signaling system for organ vascularization during embryogenesis.
Nagasawa
T
T
Research Institute, Osaka Medical Center for Maternal and Child Health, Izumi, Osaka, Japan. tnagasa@lab.mch.pref.osaka.jp
D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000502:physiology*; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4 / Q000502:physiology*
C515255:CXCL12 protein, human; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4