The matricellular protein cysteine-rich protein 61 (CCN1/Cyr61) enhances physiological adaptation of retinal vessels and reduces pathological neovascularization associated with ischemic retinopathy.

ABSTRACT: Retinal vascular damages are the cardinal hallmarks of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a leading cause of vision impairment and blindness in childhood. Both angiogenesis and vasculogenesis are disrupted in the hyperoxia-induced vaso-obliteration phase, and recapitulated, although aberrantly, in the subsequent ischemia-induced neovessel formation phase of ROP. Yet, whereas the histopathological features of ROP are well characterized, many key modulators with a therapeutic potential remain unknown. The CCN1 protein also known as cysteine-rich protein 61 (Cyr61) is a dynamically expressed, matricellular protein required for proper angiogenesis and vasculogenesis during development. The expression of CCN1 becomes abnormally reduced during the hyperoxic and ischemic phases of ROP modeled in t

SUBMITTER: Hasan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3059032 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature