The C-terminus of viral vascular endothelial growth factor-E partially blocks binding to VEGF receptor-1.
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family members play important roles in embryonic development and angiogenesis during wound healing and in pathological conditions such as tumor formation. Parapoxviruses express a new member of the VEGF family which is a functional mitogen that specifically activates VEGF receptor (VEGFR)-2 but not VEGFR-1. In this study, we show that deletion from the viral VEGF of a unique C-terminal region increases both VEGFR-1 binding and VEGFR-1-mediated monocyte migration. Enzymatic removal of O-linked glycosylation from the C-terminus also increased VEGFR-1 binding and migration of THP-1 monocytes indicating that both the C-terminal residues and O-linked sugars contribute to blocking viral VEGF binding to VEGFR-1. The data suggest that conservation of the C-terminal residues throughout the viral VEGF subfamily may represent a means of reducing the immunostimulatory activities associated with VEGFR-1 activation while maintaining the ability to induce angiogenesis via VEGFR-2.
Inder
Marie K
MK
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Wise
Lyn M
LM
Fleming
Stephen B
SB
Mercer
Andrew A
AA
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009923:Orf virus / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D014764:Viral Proteins; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1