Dataset Information

Transcriptional regulation of VEGF-A by the unfolded protein response pathway.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Angiogenesis is crucial to many physiological and pathological processes including development and cancer cell survival. Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) is the predominant mediator of angiogenesis in the VEGF family. During development, adverse environmental conditions like nutrient deprivation, hypoxia and increased protein secretion occur. IRE1alpha, PERK, and ATF6alpha, master regulators of the unfolded protein response (UPR), are activated under these conditions and are proposed to have a role in mediating angiogenesis.

Principal findings

Here we show that IRE1alpha, PERK, and ATF6alpha powerfully regulate VEGFA mRNA expression under various stress conditions. In Ire1alpha(-/-) and Perk(-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts and ATF6alpha-knockdown HepG2 cells, induction of VEGFA mRNA by endoplasmic reticulum stress is attenuated as compared to control cells. Embryonic lethality of Ire1alpha-/- mice is due to the lack of VEGFA induction in labyrinthine trophoblast cells of the developing placenta. Rescue of IRE1alpha and PERK in Ire1alpha(-/-) and Perk(-/-) cells respectively, prevents VEGFA mRNA attenuation. We further report that the induction of VEGFA by IRE1alpha, PERK and ATF6 involves activation of transcription factors, spliced-XBP-1, ATF4 and cleaved ATF6 respectively.

Conclusions/significance

Our results reveal that the IRE1alpha-XBP-1, PERK-ATF4, and ATF6alpha pathways constitute novel upstream regulatory pathways of angiogenesis by modulating VEGF transcription. Activation of these pathways helps the rapidly growing cells to obtain sufficient nutrients and growth factors for their survival under the prevailing hostile environmental conditions. These results establish an important role of the UPR in angiogenesis.

SUBMITTER: Ghosh R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2833197 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Transcriptional regulation of VEGF-A by the unfolded protein response pathway.

Ghosh Rajarshi R Lipson Kathryn L KL Sargent Karen E KE Mercurio Arthur M AM Hunt Joan S JS Ron David D Urano Fumihiko F

PloS one 20100308 3

<h4>Background</h4>Angiogenesis is crucial to many physiological and pathological processes including development and cancer cell survival. Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) is the predominant mediator of angiogenesis in the VEGF family. During development, adverse environmental conditions like nutrient deprivation, hypoxia and increased protein secretion occur. IRE1alpha, PERK, and ATF6alpha, master regulators of the unfolded protein response (UPR), are activated under these conditio ...[more]

PMID: 20221394

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Project description:Inadequate extracellular conditions can adversely affect the environment of the ER and impinge on the maturation of nascent proteins. The resultant accumulation of unfolded proteins activates a signal transduction pathway, known as the unfolded protein response, which serves primarily to protect the cell during stress and helps restore homeostasis to the ER. Microarray analysis of the unfolded protein response in a human medulloblastoma cell line treated with thapsigargin revealed that, in addition to known targets, a large number of proangiogenic factors were up-regulated. Real-time PCR analyses confirmed that four of these factors, VEGF, FGF2, angiogenin and IL-8, were transcriptionally up-regulated in multiple cell lines by various ER stress inducers. Our studies on VEGF regulation revealed that XBP-1(S), a UPR-inducible transcription factor, bound to two regions on the VEGF promoter, and analysis of XBP-1 null mouse embryonic fibroblasts revealed that it contributes to VEGF expression in response to ER stress. ATF4, another UPR-inducible transcription factor, also binds to the VEGF gene, although its contribution to VEGF transcription appeared to be fairly modest. We also found that VEGF mRNA stability is increased in response to UPR activation, via activation of the AMP and p38MAP kinases, demonstrating that increased mRNA levels occur at two regulatory points. In keeping with the mRNA levels, we found that VEGF protein is secreted at levels as high as or higher than that achieved in response to hypoxia. Our results indicate that the UPR plays a significant role in inducing positive regulators of angiogenesis. It also regulates VEGF expression at multiple levels and is likely to have widespread implications for promoting angiogenesis in response to normal physiological cues as well as in pathological conditions like cancer. We used microarrays to perform genome wide expression analysis in Daoy medulloblastoma cells to identify gene profiles that change in response to thapsigargin treatment which causes induction of the unfolded protein response.

Dataset Information

Transcriptional regulation of VEGF-A by the unfolded protein response pathway.

Background

Principal findings

Conclusions/significance

Publications

Transcriptional regulation of VEGF-A by the unfolded protein response pathway.

Similar Datasets

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