Orchestration of Angiogenesis and Arteriovenous Contribution by Angiopoietins and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 99; no. 12; pp. 8219 - 8224
• Main Authors: Visconti, Richard P., Richardson, Charlene D., Sato, Thomas N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 11.06.2002; National Acad Sciences; The National Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Angiogenesis; Angiopoietin-1; Angiopoietin-2; Angiopoietins; Animals; Biological Sciences; Blood vessels; Capillaries; Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; Endothelial Growth Factors - genetics; Endothelial Growth Factors - physiology; Growth Substances - genetics; Growth Substances - physiology; Heart; Histology; Lymphokines - genetics; Lymphokines - physiology; Major Histocompatibility Complex; Membrane Glycoproteins - physiology; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Transgenic; Neovascularization, Physiologic; Physiological regulation; Proteins - physiology; Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; Transgenes; Transgenic animals; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.122109599

Multiple classes of factors contribute to angiogenesis. In past years, the primary focus has been to understand the functions of individual classes of angiogenic factors. However, few studies have focused on the combinatorial roles of multiple classes of factors in angiogenesis. In this report, we have investigated the in vivo angiogenic processes regulated by two major classes of angiogenic factors, the angiopoietins and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Here we show that angiopoietin-1, a factor previously considered to be proangiogenic, can offset VEGF-induced angiogenesis in vivo. We also provide direct in vivo evidence for the synergistic effect of angiopoietin-2 and VEGF on the induction of angiogenesis. Furthermore, we show that these two classes of factors control the ratio of arterial and venous blood vessel types during angiogenesis. We believe that our study is a step toward understanding how multiple classes of factors harmonize angiogenesis and blood vessel types.