Brag2 differentially regulates beta1- and beta3-integrin-dependent adhesion in endothelial cells and is involved in developmental and pathological angiogenesis
- Authors
 - Manavski, Y., Carmona, G., Bennewitz, K., Tang, Z., Zhang, F., Sakurai, A., Zeiher, A.M., Gutkind, J.S., Li, X., Kroll, J., Dimmeler, S., and Chavakis, E.
 - ID
 - ZDB-PUB-140502-12
 - Date
 - 2014
 - Source
 - Basic Research in Cardiology 109(2): 404 (Journal)
 - Registered Authors
 - Kroll, Jens
 - Keywords
 - Angiogenesis, Brag2, Endocytosis, Integrins, Migration
 - MeSH Terms
 - 
    
        
        
            
                
- Neovascularization, Pathologic/genetics
 - Neovascularization, Pathologic/metabolism
 - Neovascularization, Pathologic/physiopathology*
 - Animals
 - Integrin beta1/metabolism*
 - Retinopathy of Prematurity/genetics
 - Retinopathy of Prematurity/metabolism
 - Retinopathy of Prematurity/physiopathology*
 - Cell Movement/physiology
 - Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/metabolism
 - ADP-Ribosylation Factors/metabolism
 - Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
 - COS Cells
 - Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors/genetics*
 - Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors/metabolism
 - Receptors, Vitronectin/genetics
 - Receptors, Vitronectin/metabolism
 - RNA, Small Interfering/genetics
 - Integrin beta3/metabolism*
 - Mice, Inbred C57BL
 - Choroidal Neovascularization/genetics
 - Choroidal Neovascularization/metabolism
 - Choroidal Neovascularization/physiopathology
 - Integrin alphaVbeta3/genetics
 - Integrin alphaVbeta3/metabolism
 - Cell Adhesion/physiology*
 - Disease Models, Animal
 - Humans
 - Zebrafish
 - Animals, Genetically Modified
 - Neovascularization, Physiologic/genetics
 - Neovascularization, Physiologic/physiology
 - Chlorocebus aethiops
 
 - PubMed
 - 24522833 Full text @ Basic Res. Cardiol.
 
β1-Integrins are essential for angiogenesis. The mechanisms regulating integrin function in endothelial cells (EC) and their contribution to angiogenesis remain elusive. Brag2 is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for the small Arf-GTPases Arf5 and Arf6. The role of Brag2 in EC and angiogenesis and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. siRNA-mediated Brag2-silencing reduced EC angiogenic sprouting and migration. Brag2-siRNA transfection differentially affected α5β1- and αVβ3-integrin function: specifically, Brag2-silencing increased focal/fibrillar adhesions and adhesion on β1-integrin ligands (fibronectin and collagen), while reducing the adhesion on the αVβ3-integrin ligand, vitronectin. Consistent with these results, Brag2-silencing enhanced surface expression of &alpha5β1-integrin, while reducing surface expression of αVβ3-integrin. Mechanistically, Brag2-mediated αVβ3-integrin-recycling and β1-integrin endocytosis and specifically of the active/matrix-bound α5β1-integrin present in fibrillar/focal adhesions (FA), suggesting that Brag2 contributes to the disassembly of FA via β1-integrin endocytosis. Arf5 and Arf6 are promoting downstream of Brag2 angiogenic sprouting, β1-integrin endocytosis and the regulation of FA. In vivo silencing of the Brag2-orthologues in zebrafish embryos using morpholinos perturbed vascular development. Furthermore, in vivo intravitreal injection of plasmids containing Brag2-shRNA reduced pathological ischemia-induced retinal and choroidal neovascularization. These data reveal that Brag2 is essential for developmental and pathological angiogenesis by promoting EC sprouting through regulation of adhesion by mediating β1-integrin internalization and link for the first time the process of β1-integrin endocytosis with angiogenesis.