title: Critical role of endothelial Notch1 signaling in postnatal angiogenesis.
abstract: Notch receptors are important mediators of cell fate during embryogenesis, but their role in adult physiology, particularly in postnatal angiogenesis, remains unknown. Of the Notch receptors, only Notch1 and Notch4 are expressed in vascular endothelial cells. Here we show that blood flow recovery and postnatal neovascularization in response to hindlimb ischemia in haploinsufficient global or endothelial-specific Notch1(+/-) mice, but not Notch4(-/-) mice, were impaired compared with wild-type mice. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in response to ischemia was comparable between wild-type and Notch mutant mice, suggesting that Notch1 is downstream of VEGF signaling. Treatment of endothelial cells with VEGF increases presenilin proteolytic processing, gamma-secretase activity, Notch1 cleavage, and Hes-1 (hairy enhancer of split homolog-1) expression, all of which were blocked by treating endothelial cells with inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase Akt or infecting endothelial cells with a dominant-negative Akt mutant. Indeed, inhibition of gamma-secretase activity leads to decreased angiogenesis and inhibits VEGF-induced endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and survival. Overexpression of the active Notch1 intercellular domain rescued the inhibitory effects of gamma-secretase inhibitors on VEGF-induced angiogenesis. These findings indicate that the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt pathway mediates gamma-secretase and Notch1 activation by VEGF and that Notch1 is critical for VEGF-induced postnatal angiogenesis. These results suggest that Notch1 may be a novel therapeutic target for improving angiogenic response and blood flow recovery in ischemic limbs.
authors.affiliation: Vascular Medicine Research Unit, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Kyosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeshita
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ii
authors.forename: Marcy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silver
authors.forename: Florian P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Limbourg
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mukai
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rikitake
authors.forename: Freddy
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Radtke
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gridley
authors.forename: Douglas W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Losordo
authors.forename: James K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Liao
mesh_terms: D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002417:Cattle; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism*; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000098:blood supply*; D007511:Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D051881:Receptor, Notch1 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D015398:Signal Transduction; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: C497762:Notch1 protein, mouse; D051881:Receptor, Notch1; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D053829:Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases