title: Identification of immediate early response protein 2 as a regulator of angiogenesis through the modulation of endothelial cell motility and adhesion.
abstract: Human immediate early response 2 (IER2) has been characterized as a putative nuclear protein that functions as a transcription factor or transcriptional co‑activator in the regulation of cellular responses, and may be involved in the regulation of tumor progression and metastasis. Data from our previous gene expression profile of the human microvascular endothelial cells during capillary morphogenesis showed a significant alteration of IER2 expression, suggesting that IER2 may participate in the regulation of the endothelial cell morphogenesis and angiogenesis. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of IER2 in cell motility, cell‑matrix adhesion and in vitro capillary‑like structures formation of the human umbilical vein endothelium cells (HUVECs). IER2 was constitutively expressed in HUVECs, and lentiviral‑mediated depletion of IER2 significantly reduced the cell motility, cell‑matrix adhesion and capillary‑like structures formation of HUVECs. Results also showed that depletion and overexpression of IER2 altered the actin cytoskeleton rearrangement in HUVECs. Furthermore, results from western blot analysis showed that the activity of the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) can be regulated by IER2. These results indicated that IER2 regulates endothelial cell motility, adhesion on collagen type I matrix and the capillary tube formation, as the result of the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton rearrangement presumably via a FAK‑dependent mechanism.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wenjuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xizhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Houning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuexia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Weicheng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Haichao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zijing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jingyuan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Weigan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051417:Focal Adhesion Kinase 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051417:Focal Adhesion Kinase 1; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; C544958:IER2 protein, human; C496050:PTK2 protein, human