Department of Chemistry, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA.
Genomic Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Apr 8;25(7):4115. doi: 10.3390/ijms25074115.
Vasorin (VASN), a transmembrane protein heavily expressed in endothelial cells, has garnered recent interest due to its key role in vascular development and pathology. The oligomeric state of VASN is a crucial piece of knowledge given that receptor clustering is a frequent regulatory mechanism in downstream signaling activation and amplification. However, documentation of VASN oligomerization is currently absent. In this brief report, we describe the measurement of VASN oligomerization in its native membranous environment, leveraging a class of fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy. Our investigation revealed that the majority of VASN resides in a monomeric state, while a minority of VASN forms homodimers in the cellular membrane. This result raises the intriguing possibility that ligand-independent clustering of VASN may play a role in transforming growth factor signaling.
血管生成素（VASN）是一种在血管内皮细胞中高度表达的跨膜蛋白，由于其在血管发育和病理学中的关键作用，最近引起了人们的关注。VASN 的寡聚状态是一个重要的知识点，因为受体聚类是下游信号激活和放大的常见调节机制。然而，目前还没有关于 VASN 寡聚化的文献记载。在本简要报告中，我们描述了在其天然膜环境中测量 VASN 寡聚化的方法，利用了一类荧光波动光谱学。我们的研究表明，大多数 VASN 以单体形式存在，而少数 VASN 在细胞膜中形成同源二聚体。这一结果提出了一个有趣的可能性，即配体非依赖性的 VASN 聚类可能在转化生长因子信号转导中发挥作用。
