Vasorin, a transforming growth factor β-binding protein expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells, modulates the arterial response to injury in vivo

Yuichi Ikeda, Yasushi Imai, Hidetoshi Kumagai, Tetsuya Nosaka, Yoshihiro Morikawa, Tomoko Hisaoka, Ichiro Manabe, Koji Maemura, Takashi Nakaoka, Takeshi Imamura, Kohei Miyazono, Issei Komuro, Ryozo Nagai, Toshio Kitamura

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

102 Scopus citations

Abstract

Growth factors, cell-surface receptors, adhesion molecules, and extracellular matrix proteins play critical roles in vascular pathophysiology by affecting growth, migration, differentiation, and survival of vascular cells. In a search for secreted and cell-surface molecules expressed in the cardiovascular system, by using a retrovirus-mediated signal sequence trap method, we isolated a cell-surface protein named vasorin. Vasorin is a typical type I membrane protein, containing tandem arrays of a characteristic leucine-rich repeat motif, an epidermal growth factor-like motif, and a fibronectin type III-like motif at the extracellular domain. Expression analyses demonstrated that vasorin is predominantly expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells, and that its expression is developmentally regulated. To clarify biological functions of vasorin, we searched for its binding partners and found that vasorin directly binds to transforming growth factor (TGF)-β and attenuates TGF-β signaling in vitro. Vasorin expression was down-regulated during vessel repair after arterial injury, and reversal of vasorin down-regulation, by using adenovirus-mediated in vivo gene transfer, significantly diminished injury-induced vascular lesion formation, at least in part, by inhibiting TGF-β signaling in vivo. These results suggest that down-regulation of vasorin expression contributes to neointimal formation after vascular injury and that vasorin modulates cellular responses to pathological stimuli in the vessel wall. Thus, vasorin is a potential therapeutic target for vascular fibroproliferafive disorders.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)10732-10737
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume101
Issue number29
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 20 2004

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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