On-site education of VEGF-recruited monocytes improves their performance as angiogenic and arteriogenic accessory cells.

ABSTRACT: Adult neovascularization relies on the recruitment of monocytes to the target organ or tumor and functioning therein as a paracrine accessory. The exact origins of the recruited monocytes and the mechanisms underlying their plasticity remain unclear. Using a VEGF-based transgenic system in which genetically tagged monocytes are conditionally summoned to the liver as part of a VEGF-initiated angiogenic program, we show that these recruited cells are derived from the abundant pool of circulating Ly6C(hi) monocytes. Remarkably, however, upon arrival at the VEGF-induced organ, but not the naive organ, monocytes undergo multiple phenotypic and functional changes, endowing them with enhanced proangiogenic capabilities and, importantly, with a markedly increased capacity to remodel existing small

SUBMITTER: Avraham-Davidi I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3832929 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature