title: Lowering caveolin-1 expression in human vascular endothelial cells inhibits signal transduction in response to shear stress.
abstract: Vascular endothelial cells have an extensive response to physiological levels of shear stress. There is evidence that the protein caveolin-1 is involved in the early phase of this response. In this study, caveolin-1 was downregulated in human endothelial cells by RNAi. When these cells were subjected to a shear stress of 15 dyn/cm(2) for 10 minutes, activation of Akt and ERK1/2 was significantly lower than in control cells. Moreover, activation of Akt and ERK1/2 in response to vascular endothelial growth factor was significantly lower in cells with low levels of caveolin-1. However, activation of integrin-mediated signaling during cell adhesion onto fibronectin was not hampered by lowered caveolin-1 levels. In conclusion, caveolin-1 is an essential component in the response of endothelial cells to shear stress. Furthermore, the results suggest that the role of caveolin-1 in this process lies in facilitating efficient VEGFR2-mediated signaling.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Technology and Department of Polymer Chemistry and Biomaterials, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: van der Meer
authors.forename: M M J
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kamphuis
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Poot
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feijen
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vermes