Chronic hypoxia attenuates VEGF signaling and angiogenic responses by downregulation of KDR in human endothelial cells.

Coronary artery disease results in progressive vascular stenosis associated with chronic myocardial ischemia. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) stimulates endothelial cell angiogenic responses to revascularize ischemic tissues; however, the effect of chronic hypoxia on the responsiveness of endothelial cells to VEGF remains unclear. We, therefore, investigated whether hypoxia alters VEGF-stimulated signaling and angiogenic responses in primary human coronary artery endothelial (HCAE) cells. Exposure of HCAE cells to hypoxia (1% O(2)) for 24 h decreased VEGF-stimulated endothelial cell migration ( approximately 82%), proliferation ( approximately 30%), and tube formation. Hypoxia attenuated VEGF-stimulated activation of endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase (eNOS) ( approximately 72%) and reduced NO production in VEGF-stimulated cells from 237 +/- 38.8 to 61.3 +/- 28.4 nmol/l. Moreover, hypoxia also decreased the ratio of phosphorylated eNOS to total eNOS in VEGF-stimulated cells by approximately 50%. This effect was not observed in thrombin-stimulated cells, suggesting that hypoxia specifically inhibited VEGF signaling upstream of eNOS phosphorylation. VEGF-induced activation of Akt, ERK1/2, p38, p70S6 kinases, and S6 ribosomal protein was also attenuated in hypoxic cells. Moreover, VEGF-stimulated phosphorylation of VEGF receptor-2 (KDR) at Y996 and Y1175 was decreased by hypoxia. This decrease correlated with a 70 +/- 12% decrease in KDR protein expression. Analysis of mRNA from these cells showed that hypoxia reduced steady-state levels of KDR mRNA by 52 +/- 16% and decreased mRNA stability relative to normoxic cells. Our findings demonstrate that chronic hypoxia attenuates VEGF-stimulated signaling in HCAE cells by specific downregulation of KDR expression. These data provide a novel explanation for the impaired angiogenic responses to VEGF in endothelial cells exposed to chronic hypoxia.