Project description:The identification of circulating endothelial progenitor cells has led to speculation regarding their origin as well as their contribution to neovascular development. Two distinct types of endothelium make up the blood and lymphatic vessel system. However, it has yet to be determined whether there are distinct lymphatic-specific circulating endothelial progenitor cells. We isolated circulating endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) from whole peripheral blood. These cells are endothelial in nature, as defined by their expression of endothelial markers and their ability to undergo capillary morphogenesis in three-dimensional culture. A subset of isolated colonies express markers of lymphatic endothelium, including VEGFR-3 and Prox-1, with low levels of VEGFR-1, a blood endothelial marker, while the bulk of the isolated cells express high VEGFR-1 levels with low VEGFR-3 and Prox-1 expression. The different isolates have differential responses to VEGF-C, a lymphatic endothelial specific cytokine, strongly suggesting that there are lymphatic specific and blood specific ECFCs. Global analysis of gene expression revealed key differences in the regulation of pathways involved in cellular differentiation between blood and lymphatic-specific ECFCs. These data indicate that there are two distinguishable circulating ECFC types, blood and lymphatic, which are likely to have discrete functions during neovascularization. RNA was isolated from 2 blood-specific ECFC cell lines and 2 lymphatic-specific ECFC cell lines 3 separate times each
Project description:The identification of circulating endothelial progenitor cells has led to speculation regarding their origin as well as their contribution to neovascular development. Two distinct types of endothelium make up the blood and lymphatic vessel system. However, it has yet to be determined whether there are distinct lymphatic-specific circulating endothelial progenitor cells. We isolated circulating endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) from whole peripheral blood. These cells are endothelial in nature, as defined by their expression of endothelial markers and their ability to undergo capillary morphogenesis in three-dimensional culture. A subset of isolated colonies express markers of lymphatic endothelium, including VEGFR-3 and Prox-1, with low levels of VEGFR-1, a blood endothelial marker, while the bulk of the isolated cells express high VEGFR-1 levels with low VEGFR-3 and Prox-1 expression. The different isolates have differential responses to VEGF-C, a lymphatic endothelial specific cytokine, strongly suggesting that there are lymphatic specific and blood specific ECFCs. Global analysis of gene expression revealed key differences in the regulation of pathways involved in cellular differentiation between blood and lymphatic-specific ECFCs. These data indicate that there are two distinguishable circulating ECFC types, blood and lymphatic, which are likely to have discrete functions during neovascularization.
Project description:We performed high throughput RNA-sequencing on KSHV-infected blood and lymphatic Endothelial Colony-Forming Cells at 48hpi to identify differences in gene expression induced by KSHV in these two cell types.
Project description:During embryonic development, the lymphatic system emerges by transdifferentiation from the cardinal vein. Although lymphatic and blood vasculature share a close molecular and developmental relationship, they display distinct features and functions. However, even after terminal differentiation, transitions between the two endothelial cell types have been reported. Since changes in phenotypic plasticity and cellular differentiation processes frequently involve epigenetic mechanisms, we wondered whether DNA methylation might play a role in regulating cell type-specific expression in endothelial cells. By analyzing global gene expression and methylation patterns of primary human dermal lymphatic and blood endothelial cells, we identified a highly significant set of genes, which were differentially methylated and expressed. Pathway analyses of the differentially methylated and upregulated genes in lymphatic endothelial cells revealed involvement in developmental and transdifferentiation processes. We further identified a set of novel genes, which might be implicated in regulating BEC-LEC plasticity and could serve as therapeutic targets and/or biomarkers in vascular diseases associated with alterations in the endothelial phenotype. Expression profile of 10 lymphatic endothelial cells was compared to that of 6 blood endothelial cells, no replicates, no control samples.
Project description:Derivation and expansion of human umbilical cord blood-derived endothelial colony forming cells under serum-free conditions - a transcriptome analysis. Endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) were isolated from term umbilical cord blood units. ECFCs were expanded under standard, fetal bovine serum (FBS) containing endothelial medium, or transferred to chemically defined endothelial media without FBS. Microarray expression profiling was applied to compare the transcriptome profiles in FBS-containing versus FBS-free culture.
Project description:Derivation and expansion of human umbilical cord blood-derived endothelial colony forming cells under serum-free conditions - a transcriptome analysis. Endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) were isolated from term umbilical cord blood units. ECFCs were expanded under standard, fetal bovine serum (FBS) containing endothelial medium, or transferred to chemically defined endothelial media without FBS. Microarray expression profiling was applied to compare the transcriptome profiles in FBS-containing versus FBS-free culture. Comparison of the expression patterns of ECFCs that were either cultured in FBS-containing medium or in serum-free medium (five replicates each).
Project description:During embryonic development, the lymphatic system emerges by transdifferentiation from the cardinal vein. Although lymphatic and blood vasculature share a close molecular and developmental relationship, they display distinct features and functions. However, even after terminal differentiation, transitions between the two endothelial cell types have been reported. Since changes in phenotypic plasticity and cellular differentiation processes frequently involve epigenetic mechanisms, we wondered whether DNA methylation might play a role in regulating cell type-specific expression in endothelial cells. By analyzing global gene expression and methylation patterns of primary human dermal lymphatic and blood endothelial cells, we identified a highly significant set of genes, which were differentially methylated and expressed. Pathway analyses of the differentially methylated and upregulated genes in lymphatic endothelial cells revealed involvement in developmental and transdifferentiation processes. We further identified a set of novel genes, which might be implicated in regulating BEC-LEC plasticity and could serve as therapeutic targets and/or biomarkers in vascular diseases associated with alterations in the endothelial phenotype. Bisulphite converted DNA from the 16 samples were hybridised to the Illumina Infinium 450k Human Methylation Beadchip v1.1
Project description:The aim of this study is to compare gene expression differences between human lymphatic endothelial cells after they have been treated with siRNA or with different CD73-blocking antibodies. In addition also the gene expression differences after antibody-blocking in human blood endothelial cells are determined.