PlumX Metrics
Embed PlumX Metrics

Hypoxia in combination with FGF-2 induces tube formation by human microvascular endothelial cells in a fibrin matrix: Involvement of at least two signal transduction pathways

Journal of Cell Science, ISSN: 0021-9533, Vol: 114, Issue: 4, Page: 825-833
2001
  • 44
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 28
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

Article Description

Hypoxia in combination with a growth factor is a strong inducer of angiogenesis. Among several effects, hypoxia can activate endothelial cells directly, but the mechanism by which it acts is not fully elucidated. In vitro, human microvascular endothelial cells (hMVEC) form capillary-like tubules in fibrin solely after stimulation with a combination of fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2 or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the cytokine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)α. We show in this paper that in hypoxic conditions, FGF-2-stimulated hMVEC form tube-like structures in a fibrin matrix in the absence of TNFα. Hypoxia/FGF-2-stimulated cells express more urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) receptor than normoxia/FGF-2-stimulated cells and display a slightly higher turnover of u-PA. This small increase in u-PA activation probably cannot fully explain the hypoxia/FGF-2-induced tube formation. Hypoxia activated at least two signal pathways that may contribute to the enhanced angiogenic response. In hypoxia/FGF-2-stimulated hMVEC the transcription factor p65 was activated and translocated to the nucleus, whereas in normaxia/FGF-2-stimulated cells p65 remained inactive. Furthermore, in hypoxic conditions, the amounts of phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinases ERK1/2 were increased compared to normoxic conditions. We conclude that hypoxia is able to activate different signal pathways in FGF-2-stimulated human endothelial cells, which may be involved in hypoxia-induced angiogenesis.

Bibliographic Details

Provide Feedback

Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know