The role of adaptor protein PINCH mediated signaling pathway in morphogenesis of vasculature
In order to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms of the integrin-PINCH signaling pathways in angiogenesis, arterial samples from E14.5 mice were obtained for RNA extraction and RNA-seq sequencing. RNA-seq analysis showed that the enriched regulated genes were associated with various biological processes, including the ERK1/2 cascade, collagen biosynthetic process, and multiple cell behaviors , cell adhesion, migration, extracellular matrix remodeling, muscle contraction, etc. The results suggest that the PINCHs play an essential role in angiogenesis by modulating gene expression and signaling pathways as well as regulating cell behaviors of vascular wall, and deletion of PINCHs lead to altered biological processes, influencing the development and functionality of blood vessels, which are associated with cell adhesion, proliferation, apoptosis, and migration. Overall design: In order to investigate the functional roles of PINCHs in the development of vascular medial layer cells and angiogenesis, we used vascular medial layer cell specific mouse model (Pdgfrb Cre/+; PINCH1f/+; PINCH2-/- mice and PINCH1f/f; PINCH2-/-, dmut).  Then we performed RNA-seq analysis of the aortic smooth muscle tissue at E14.5/18.5 and comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for control and PINCH-null (mut) mice.