Aberrant neovascularisation contributes to diseases such as cancer, blindness and atherosclerosis and is the consequence of inappropriate angiogenic signalling. While many regulators of pathogenic angiogenesis have been identified, our understanding of this process is incomplete. Here we explored the transcriptome of retinal microvessels isolated from mouse models of retinal disease that exhibit vascular pathology and uncovered an up-regulated gene, leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein-1 (Lrg1), of previously unknown function. We show that in the presence of TGFβ1, LRG1 is mitogenic to endothelial cells and promotes angiogenesis. Mice lacking Lrg1 develop a mild retinal vascular phenotype but exhibit a significant reduction in pathological ocular angiogenesis. LRG1 binds directly to the TGFβ accessory receptor endoglin which, in the presence of TGFβ1, results in promotion of the pro-angiogenic Smad1/5/8 signalling pathway. LRG1 antibody blockade inhibits this switch and attenuates angiogenesis. These studies reveal a novel regulator of angiogenesis that mediates its effect through modulating TGFβ signalling.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is known to induce changes in endothelial cell morphology and permeability, but the mechanisms have not been extensively characterized. TNF-alpha rapidly induced RhoA activation and myosin light chain phosphorylation, but caused only small changes to cortical F-actin, without significantly increasing paracellular permeability up to 30 min after stimulation. TNF-alpha subsequently caused a progressive increase in permeability and in stress fiber reorganization, cell elongation, and intercellular gap formation over 8-24 h. Consistent with the increased permeability, Occludin and JAM-A were removed from tight junctions and ZO-1 was partially redistributed. Rho/ROCK but not MLCK inhibition prevented the long-term TNF-alpha-induced changes in F-actin and cell morphology, but ROCK inhibition did not affect permeability. These results suggest that the gradual increase in permeability induced by TNF-alpha does not reflect contractile mechanisms mediated by Rho, ROCK, and MLCK, but involves long-term reorganization of tight junction proteins.

Lymphocyte transendothelial migration (TEM) is critically dependent on intraendothelial signaling triggered by adhesion to ICAM-1. Here we show that endothelial MAPKs ERK, p38, and JNK mediate diapedesis-related and diapedesis-unrelated functions of ICAM-1 in cerebral and dermal microvascular endothelial cells (MVECs). All three MAPKs were activated by ICAM-1 engagement, either through lymphocyte adhesion or Ab-mediated clustering. MAPKs were involved in ICAM-1–dependent expression of TNF-α in cerebral and dermal MVECs, and CXCL8, CCL3, CCL4, VCAM-1, and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) in cerebral MVECs. Endothelial JNK and to a much lesser degree p38 were the principal MAPKs involved in facilitating diapedesis of CD4+ lymphocytes across both types of MVECs, whereas ERK was additionally required for TEM across dermal MVECs. JNK activity was critical for ICAM-1–induced F-actin rearrangements. Furthermore, activation of endothelial ICAM-1/JNK led to phosphorylation of paxillin, its association with VE-cadherin, and internalization of the latter. Importantly ICAM-1–induced phosphorylation of paxillin was required for lymphocyte TEM and converged functionally with VE-cadherin phosphorylation. Taken together we conclude that during lymphocyte TEM, ICAM-1 signaling diverges into pathways regulating lymphocyte diapedesis, and other pathways modulating gene expression thereby contributing to the long-term inflammatory response of the endothelium.

METHODS. We used qPCR to study mRNA expression of the transmembrane chain of FcRn (FCGRT) in retina, optic nerve, RPE/choroid plexus, ciliary body/iris plexus, lens, cornea, and conjunctiva isolated from mouse, rat, pig, and human postmortem eyes and used immunohistochemistry to determine the pattern of FcRn expression in FCGRT-transgenic mouse and human eyes.RESULTS. In all four tested species, Fcgrt mRNA was expressed in the retina, RPE/choroid, and the ciliary body/iris, while immunohistochemistry documented FcRn protein expression in the ciliary body epithelium, macrophages, and endothelial cells in the retinal and choroidal vasculature.CONCLUSIONS. Our results demonstrate that FcRn has the potential to interact with IgG-Fc domains in the ciliary epithelium and retinal and choroidal vasculature, which might affect the half-life and distribution of intravitreally injected Fc-carrying molecules.

Occludin is an integral-membrane protein that contributes to tight junction function. We have identified casein kinase Ie (CKIe) as a binding partner for the C-terminal cytoplasmic domain of occludin by yeast two-hybrid screening. CKIe phosphorylated occludin and co-localised and co-immunoprecipitated with occludin from human endothelial cells. Amino acids 265-318 of occludin were sufficient for CKIe binding and phosphorylation. Deletion of the C-terminal 48 amino acids of occludin increased CKIe binding and phosphorylation, suggesting that this region inhibits CKIe binding. These data identify CKIe as a novel occludin kinase that may be important for the regulation of occludin.

The mouse retinal vasculature provides a powerful model system for studying development and pathologies of the vasculature. Because it forms as a two-dimensional flat plexus, it is easily imaged in its entirety in whole-mount retinal preparations. In order to study molecular signaling mechanisms, it is useful to visualize the expression of specific genes in the entire vascular plexus and retina. However, in situ hybridization on whole-mount retinal preparations is problematic because isolated retinas have a tendency to curl up during hybridization and are difficult to stain. Here we provide a detailed protocol that overcomes these difficulties and visualizes the mRNA distribution of one or two genes in the context of the counterstained retinal vasculature. The protocol takes 3-4 d for single-probe stains, with an additional 2 d for immunohistochemistry co-labeling. In situ hybridization with two probes adds a further 3 d.

Retinal pathologies are frequently accompanied by retinal vascular responses, including the formation of new vessels by angiogenesis (neovascularization). Pathological vascular changes may also include less well characterized traits of vascular remodeling that are non-neovascular, such as vessel pruning and the emergence of dilated and tortuous vessel phenotypes (telangiectasis). The molecular mechanisms underlying neovascular growth versus non-neovascular remodeling are poorly understood. We therefore undertook to identify novel regulators of non-neovascular remodeling in the retina by using the dystrophic Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat and the retinal dystrophy 1 (RD1) mouse, both of which display pronounced non-neovascular remodeling. Gene expression profiling of isolated retinal vessels from these mutant rodent models and wild-type controls revealed 60 differentially expressed genes. These included the genes for apelin (Apln) and for its receptor (Aplnr), both of which were strongly up-regulated in the mutants. Crossing RD1 mice into an Apln-null background substantially reduced vascular telangiectasia. In contrast, Apln gene deletion had no effect in two models of neovascular pathology [laser-induced choroidal neovascularization and the very low density lipoprotein receptor (Vldlr)-knockout mouse]. These findings suggest that in these models apelin has minimal effect on sprouting retinal angiogenesis, but contributes significantly to pathogenic non-neovascular remodeling.

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