title: Transcriptional profiling of CD31(+) cells isolated from murine embryonic stem cells.
abstract: Identification of genes involved in endothelial differentiation is of great interest for the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the development of new blood vessels. Mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells serve as a potential source of endothelial cells for transcriptomic analysis. We isolated endothelial cells from 8-days old embryoid bodies by immuno-magnetic separation using platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (also known as CD31) expressed on both early and mature endothelial cells. CD31(+) cells exhibit endothelial-like behavior by being able to incorporate DiI-labeled acetylated low-density lipoprotein as well as form tubular structures on matrigel. Quantitative and semi-quantitative PCR analysis further demonstrated the increased expression of endothelial transcripts. To ascertain the specific transcriptomic identity of the CD31(+) cells, large-scale microarray analysis was carried out. Comparative bioinformatic analysis reveals an enrichment of the gene ontology categories angiogenesis, blood vessel morphogenesis, vasculogenesis and blood coagulation in the CD31(+) cell population. Based on the transcriptomic signatures of the CD31(+) cells, we conclude that this ES cell-derived population contains endothelial-like cells expressing a mesodermal marker BMP2 and possess an angiogenic potential. The transcriptomic characterization of CD31(+) cells enables an in vitro functional genomic model to identify genes required for angiogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Center of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Institute of Neurophysiology, and Center of Molecular Medicine, University of Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Devi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mariappan
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.forename: Shuhua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hescheler
authors.forename: Agapios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sachinidis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005855:Germ Layers / Q000378:metabolism; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology; D051379:Mice; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1