title: Targeting angiogenesis: structural characterization and biological properties of a de novo engineered VEGF mimicking peptide.
abstract: Modulating angiogenesis is an attractive goal because many pathological conditions depend on the growth of new vessels. Angiogenesis is mainly regulated by the VEGF, a mitogen specific for endothelial cells. In the last years, many efforts have been pursued to modulate the angiogenic response targeting VEGF and its receptors. Based on the x-ray structure of VEGF bound to the receptor, we designed a peptide, QK, reproducing a region of the VEGF binding interface: the helix region 17-25. NMR conformation analysis of QK revealed that it adopts a helical conformation in water, whereas the peptide corresponding to the alpha-helix region of VEGF, VEGF15, is unstructured. Biological assays in vitro and on bovine aorta endothelial cells suggested that QK binds to the VEGF receptors and competes with VEGF. VEGF15 did not bind to the receptors indicating that the helical structure is necessary for the biological activity. Furthermore, QK induced endothelial cells proliferation, activated cell signaling dependent on VEGF, and increased the VEGF biological response. QK promoted capillary formation and organization in an in vitro assay on matrigel. These results suggested that the helix region 17-25 of VEGF is involved in VEGF receptor activation. The peptide designed to resemble this region shares numerous biological properties of VEGF, thus suggesting that this region is of potential interest for biomedical applications, and molecules mimicking it could be attractive for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Mezzocannone 16, 80134 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca Domenico
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: D'Andrea
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Iaccarino
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fattorusso
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sorriento
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carannante
authors.forename: Domenica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Capasso
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Trimarco
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pedone
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002417:Cattle; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003094:Collagen; D004338:Drug Combinations; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007797:Laminin; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000378:metabolism*; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D015202:Protein Engineering; D011509:Proteoglycans; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004338:Drug Combinations; D007797:Laminin; D010455:Peptides; D011509:Proteoglycans; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; C059485:matrigel; D003094:Collagen; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor