Nyqvist Daniel, Giampietro Costanza, Dejana Elisabetta
IFOM, FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Via Adamello 16, 20139 Milan, Italy.
EMBO Rep. 2008 Aug;9(8):742-7. doi: 10.1038/embor.2008.123. Epub 2008 Jul 4.
Endothelial cell-to-cell junctions are vital for the formation and integrity of blood vessels. The main adhesive junctional complexes in endothelial cells, adherens junctions and tight junctions, are formed by transmembrane adhesive proteins that are linked to intracellular signalling partners and cytoskeletal-binding proteins. Gene inactivation and blocking antibodies in mouse models have revealed some of the functions of the individual junctional components in vivo, and are increasing our understanding of the functional role of endothelial cell junctions in angiogenesis and vascular homeostasis. Adherens-junction organization is required for correct vascular morphogenesis during embryo development. By contrast, the data available suggest that tight-junction proteins are not essential for vascular development but are necessary for endothelial barrier function.
内皮细胞间连接对于血管的形成和完整性至关重要。内皮细胞中的主要黏附连接复合体，即黏着连接和紧密连接，由跨膜黏附蛋白形成，这些蛋白与细胞内信号转导伙伴和细胞骨架结合蛋白相连。小鼠模型中的基因失活和阻断抗体揭示了体内单个连接组件的一些功能，并加深了我们对内皮细胞连接在血管生成和血管稳态中的功能作用的理解。胚胎发育过程中正确的血管形态发生需要黏着连接的组织。相比之下，现有数据表明紧密连接蛋白对于血管发育并非必不可少，但对于内皮屏障功能却是必需的。
