Leukemia inhibitory factor regulates microvessel density by modulating oxygen-dependent VEGF expression in mice.

ABSTRACT: To meet tissue requirements for oxygen, capillaries must be properly distributed without excess or shortage. In this process, tissue oxygen concentration is well known to determine capillary density via the hypoxia-induced cascade, in which HIFs and VEGF play key roles. However, some additional mechanisms modulating this cascade are suggested to be involved in precise capillary network formation. Here, we showed that leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) was predominantly expressed in developing endothelium, while its receptor was expressed in surrounding cells such as retinal astrocytes. The retinas of Lif(-/-) mice displayed increased microvessel density accompanied by sustained tip cell activity, due to increased VEGF expression by astrocytes in the vascularized area. Lif(-/-) mice resisted

SUBMITTER: Kubota Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2398738 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature