ASK1-interacting protein-1 (AIP1), a recently identified member of the Ras GTPase-activating protein family, is highly expressed in vascular ECs and regulates EC apoptosis in vitro. However, its function in vivo has not been established. To study this, we generated AIP1-deficient mice (KO mice). Although these mice showed no obvious defects in vascular development, they exhibited dramatically e...

The mammalian endothelium expresses two related but distinct receptor tyrosine kinases, VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 [VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) receptor 1 and 2], that regulate the vascular response to a key cytokine, VEGF-A. In the present review, we suggest a model for integrating the signals from these receptor tyrosine kinases by co-ordinating the spatial and temporal segregation of th...

BACKGROUND Vascular endothelial growth factor-121 (VEGF121), an angiogenic protein secreted in response to hypoxic stress, binds to VEGF receptors (VEGFRs) overexpressed on vessels of ischemic tissue. The purpose of this study was to evaluate 64Cu-VEGF121 positron emission tomography for noninvasive spatial, temporal, and quantitative monitoring of VEGFR2 expression in a murine model of hindlim...

The purpose of these experiments was to evaluate the expression of endothelial markers, such as Tie2 and VEGFR2 in endothelial cells derived from blood mononuclear endothelial progenitor cells. Bovine mononuclear cells were isolated using separation by centrifugation and were grown in endothelial specific media supplemented with growth factors. Isolation of the whole cell population of mononucl...

Vascular and nervous systems, two major networks in mammalian bodies, show a high degree of anatomical parallelism and functional crosstalk. During development, neurons guide and attract blood vessels, and consequently this parallelism is established. Here, we identified a noncanonical neurovascular interaction in eye development and disease. VEGFR2, a critical endothelial receptor for VEGF, wa...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) binding induces phosphorylation of VEGF receptor (VEGFR)2 in tyrosine, which is followed by disruption of VE-cadherin-mediated cell-cell contacts of endothelial cells (ECs), thereby stimulating EC proliferation and migration to promote angiogenesis. Tyrosine phosphorylation events are controlled by the balance of activation of protein tyrosine kinases a...

OBJECTIVE Anti-angiogenic therapies (AATs), targeting VEGF-VEGFR pathways, are being used as an adjuvant to normalize glioblastoma (GBM) vasculature. Unexpectedly, clinical trials have witnessed transient therapeutic effect followed by aggressive tumor recurrence. In pre-clinical studies, targeting VEGFR2 with vatalanib, increased GBM growth under hypoxic microenvironment. There is limited unde...

Non-invasive detection of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) by positron emission tomography (PET) would allow the evaluation of tumor vascular activity in vivo. Recently, a dimeric peptoid, GU40C4, was reported as a highly potent antagonist of VEGFR2 activation inhibiting angiogenesis and tumor growth in vivo. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the potential of this p...

Objective(s): Filamentous bacteriophage M13 was genetically engineered to specifically target mammalian cells for gene delivery purpose. Materials and Methods: A vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2)-specific nanobody was genetically fused to the capsid gene III of M13 bacteriophage (pHEN4/3VGR19). A mammalian expression construct containing Cop-green fluorescent protein (Cop-G...