Downes M, Koopman P
Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2001 Nov;11(8):318-24. doi: 10.1016/s1050-1738(01)00131-1.
SOX18 is a transcription factor that is transiently expressed in nascent endothelial cells during embryonic development and adult neovascularization. This protein belongs to the SOX family of transcription factors, which are proving to be some of the key regulators of cell-type specification in the vertebrate embryo. Natural mutations in the Sox18 gene have been shown to result in cardiovascular dysfunction, in some cases leading to death. Available evidence thus implicates Sox18 as an important regulator of vascular development, most likely playing a key role in endothelial cell specification. However, the genetic knockout of Sox18 in mice has produced a confounding result that complicates our understanding of the molecular mode of action of the SOX18 protein. We speculate that Sox18 may act in a redundant fashion with closely related genes such as Sox7 and/or Sox17.
SOX18是一种转录因子，在胚胎发育和成人新生血管形成过程中在新生内皮细胞中短暂表达。该蛋白属于转录因子SOX家族，该家族被证明是脊椎动物胚胎中细胞类型特异性的一些关键调节因子。已表明Sox18基因的自然突变会导致心血管功能障碍，在某些情况下会导致死亡。现有证据因此表明Sox18是血管发育的重要调节因子，很可能在内皮细胞特异性中起关键作用。然而，小鼠中Sox18的基因敲除产生了一个令人困惑的结果，使我们对SOX18蛋白的分子作用模式的理解变得复杂。我们推测Sox18可能与Sox7和/或Sox17等密切相关的基因以冗余方式发挥作用。
