Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America.
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America.
PLoS Genet. 2024 Jan 8;20(1):e1010851. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010851. eCollection 2024 Jan.
Blood vessels in different vascular beds vary in size, which is essential for their function and fluid flow along the vascular network. Molecular mechanisms involved in the formation of a vascular lumen of appropriate size, or tubulogenesis, are still only partially understood. Src homology 2 domain containing E (She) protein was previously identified in a screen for proteins that interact with Abelson (Abl)-kinase. However, its biological role has remained unknown. Here we demonstrate that She and Abl signaling regulate vessel size in zebrafish embryos and human endothelial cell culture. Zebrafish she mutants displayed increased endothelial cell number and enlarged lumen size of the dorsal aorta (DA) and defects in blood flow, eventually leading to the DA collapse. Vascular endothelial specific overexpression of she resulted in a reduced diameter of the DA, which correlated with the reduced arterial cell number and lower endothelial cell proliferation. Chemical inhibition of Abl signaling in zebrafish embryos caused a similar reduction in the DA diameter and alleviated the she mutant phenotype, suggesting that She acts as a negative regulator of Abl signaling. Enlargement of the DA size in she mutants correlated with an increased endothelial expression of claudin 5a (cldn5a), which encodes a protein enriched in tight junctions. Inhibition of cldn5a expression partially rescued the enlarged DA in she mutants, suggesting that She regulates DA size, in part, by promoting cldn5a expression. SHE knockdown in human endothelial umbilical vein cells resulted in a similar increase in the diameter of vascular tubes, and also increased phosphorylation of a known ABL downstream effector CRKL. These results argue that SHE functions as an evolutionarily conserved inhibitor of ABL signaling and regulates vessel and lumen size during vascular tubulogenesis.
不同血管床中的血管大小不同,这对于它们的功能和沿着血管网络的流体流动至关重要。涉及形成适当大小的血管腔或管状形成的分子机制仍部分理解。Src 同源性 2 结构域包含 E(She)蛋白先前在筛选与 Abelson(Abl)激酶相互作用的蛋白质时被鉴定出来。然而,其生物学作用仍然未知。在这里,我们证明了 She 和 Abl 信号在斑马鱼胚胎和人内皮细胞培养物中调节血管大小。斑马鱼 she 突变体显示内皮细胞数量增加,背主动脉(DA)的管腔增大,并且血流缺陷最终导致 DA 崩溃。血管内皮细胞特异性过表达 she 导致 DA 直径减小,这与动脉细胞数量减少和内皮细胞增殖降低相关。在斑马鱼胚胎中化学抑制 Abl 信号导致 DA 直径减小,并缓解了 she 突变体表型,表明 She 作为 Abl 信号的负调节剂起作用。she 突变体中 DA 大小的增大与内皮细胞 claudin 5a(cldn5a)的表达增加相关,cldn5a 编码富含紧密连接的蛋白质。cldn5a 表达的抑制部分挽救了 she 突变体中增大的 DA,表明 She 通过促进 cldn5a 表达来调节 DA 大小。在人内皮脐静脉细胞中 SHE 敲低导致血管管腔直径类似地增加,并且还增加了已知 ABL 下游效应物 CRKL 的磷酸化。这些结果表明 SHE 作为 ABL 信号的进化保守抑制剂发挥作用,并在血管管状形成过程中调节血管和管腔大小。