Two Critical Angiogenisis Genes Identified

Researchers studying the factors that control blood vessel development have identified two genes that are critical in regulating the differentiation of stem cells into vascular endothelial cells.

The first gene, called BMPER for BMP-binding endothelial precursor-derived regulator, was found by using what the researchers called "a sophisticated molecular approach to separate out endothelial cell precursors from non-endothelial cells in a stem-cell model.” BMPER was specifically active in cells expressing flk-1 (a molecular marker for early endothelial cell precursors) and paralleled the time course of flk-1 induction in these cells.

The second gene, HOXB5, was isolated using the yeast-1 hybrid screen method. The researchers found that HOXB5 increased expression of flk1 by binding to genetic regulatory elements in the gene. The two genes were described in back-to-back papers in the August 15, 2003, issue of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Reflecting on their research into blood vessel development, senior author Dr. Cam Patterson, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, USA; www.unc.edu), said, "I think of endothelial cells as the ‘intelligent cells' of blood vessels. They are communicators between the blood vessel wall and bloodstream. They are the cells that determine what a blood vessel does. For example, during angiogenesis, when new blood vessels are being formed, it is the endothelial cells that determine where they go and how big they get.”




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