E ndothelial cells (ECs) form the internal barrier of vasculature and play fundamental roles in vascular development and diseases. Most blood vessels remain quiescent and function to conduct nutritive blood flow; however, they can resume an active proliferation program governed by a complex milieu of growth factors and signaling networks to generate new blood vessels in a process broadly termed angiogenesis.Angiogenesis is a biological process that generates new blood vessels from existing ECs. It is critical for both physiological and pathological processes, such as embryonic development, organ growth, wound healing, tumor growth, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and rheumatoid arthritis.1,2 Many of the same developmental pathways of inducing sprouting of pre-existing vessels have been adapted Objective: To investigate the functions of miR302-367 in developmental angiogenesis and tumor angiogenesis and explore the molecular mechanisms of microRNA for the treatment of pathological neovascularization-related diseases.
Methods and Results:Here, we show that miR302-367 elevation in endothelial cells reduces retinal sprouting angiogenesis and promotes vascular stability in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro. Erk1/2 is identified as direct target of miR302-367, and downregulation of Erk1/2 on miR302-367 elevation in endothelial cells increases the expression of Klf2 and in turn S1pr1 and its downstream target VE-cadherin, suppressing angiogenesis and improving vascular stability. Conversely, both pharmacological blockade and genetic deletion of S1pr1 in endothelial cells reverse the antiangiogenic and vascular stabilizing effect of miR302-367 in mice. Tumor angiogenesis shares features of developmental angiogenesis, and endothelial specific elevation of miR302-367 reduces tumor growth by restricting sprout angiogenesis and decreasing vascular permeability via the same Erk1/2-Klf2-S1pr1 pathways. However, resistance to Vegf blockade develops because of upregulation of other angiogenic growth factors, and inhibition of multiple pathways provides synergy and is more effective than targeting a single growth factor-dependent pathway.
Conclusions:
3Thus, a better understanding of major regulators of angiogenesis may ultimately lead to the development of more effective antiangiogenic therapies. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that regulate RNA translation and stability at a post-transcriptional level and participate in a diverse range of regulation of genes involved in the control of development, differentiation, homeostasis, metabolism, growth, proliferation, and apoptosis.
4A powerful indication for indispensable roles of miRNAs in angiogenesis was shown by EC or vascular smooth muscle cell-specific deletion of Dicer, an enzyme essential for miR-NA biogenesis, resulting in defective blood vessel development and EC function. 5,6 The function of individual miRNAs in angiogenesis is beginning to be elucidated, and miRNAs can represent a future therapeutic target for the treatment of pathologica...