Protein on Activated Endothelial Cells Promotes Adhesion

Researchers have identified a growth factor, phosphatidic acid phosphatase 2b (PAP2b), on the surface of endothelial cells and have shown that it plays an important role in angiogenesis by inducing cell-to-cell adhesion.

In the adult human endothelial cells that line blood vessels remain dormant for as long as five to seven years. However, in response to injury and or infection, the vasculature may become inflamed and the constituent endothelial cells become activated. Inflammation of the walls of blood vessels has been linked to the development of cardiovascular diseases as well as autoimmune syndromes such as rheumatoid arthritis.

The researchers, at Texas A&M University (Houston, USA), found that PAP2b appeared on the surface of activated endothelial cells and exhibited an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) cell adhesion sequence. Their finding was published in the April 1, 2003, issue of the European Molecular Biology Journal (EMBO).

Senior author Dr. Kishore Wary, assistant professor in the Institute of Biosciences at Texas A&M, explained, "Cell-to-cell interaction means that cells adhere to each other directly. In other words, we say these cells become very sticky or adhesive, and this was a surprising and unexpected observation. Our data are really compelling. In blood vessels, such behavior of endothelial cells could contribute to thrombosis, stroke, and recruit circulating tumor cells. However, PAP2b is not the only molecule that could do the job of promoting cell-to-cell interaction. There are several other known cell adhesion molecules that can do a similar job.”




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